June 9 (UPI) — New dad Anderson Cooper says fatherhood is a “dream come true.”
The 53-year-old CNN anchor said in the June 22 issue of People that it feels like his “life has actually begun” since welcoming a son, Wyatt Morgan, with his partner, Benjamin Maisani.
Cooper shared how he once thought parenthood was something he would never experience as a gay person.
“When I was 12 years old and knew I was gay and thought about my life, it always upset me because I thought, ‘I will never be able to have a kid,'” the journalist said. “This is a dream come true.
“It feels like my life has actually begun,” he added. “And I sort of wonder, what was I waiting for? This is a new level of love. It’s unlike anything I’ve experienced, and yet it’s also very familiar and incredibly special and intimate. It’s really extraordinary.”
Cooper announced April 30 on Instagram that he and Maisani welcomed a baby boy via surrogate on April 27. The couple named their son after Cooper’s late father, Wyatt.
“As a gay kid, I never thought it would be possible to have a child, and I’m grateful for all those who have paved the way, and for the doctors and nurses and everyone involved in my son’s birth,” Cooper said.
“Most of all, I am grateful to a remarkable surrogate who carried Wyatt, and watched over him lovingly, and tenderly, and gave birth to him,” he added. “It is an extraordinary blessing what she and all surrogates give to families who can’t have children.”
Cooper, the son of Wyatt Emory Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt, said he wishes his parents and his late brother, Carter Cooper, were alive to meet baby Wyatt.
“I imagine them all together, arms around each other, smiling and laughing, happy to know that their love is alive in me and in Wyatt, and that our family continues,” he said.
Andy Cohen, a Bravo producer and Cooper’s close friend, was among those to congratulate the new dad online. Cohen welcomed his own son, Benjamin, in February.
“‘new life, new hope!’ Wyatt Cooper, you couldn’t have come at a better time! I know a friend who can’t wait to meet you!” Cohen said on Instagram.
Cooper hosts the news show “Anderson Cooper 360°” on CNN.
