Anderson Cooper’s mom offered to carry his child at the age of 85

On The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Thursday, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper told for the first time ever on television, the story about the “batsh*t crazy” idea his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, who died at the age of 95 in July of 2019, had when she was 85. As Cooper tells it, his mother informed him that she had recently gone to the gynecologist, who informed her that she could still bear children. She wanted Cooper to get an egg, fertilize it with his sperm and she would carry his child. Obviously, Cooper did not think this was a good idea in any way.

“I was just stunned,” Cooper said, “and I finally said to her, I was like, ‘You know, mom, I love you, but even for you that is just batsh*t crazy. That’s just nuts.’ I was like, ‘That is just weirdly Oedipal on a whole other level. That kid would be on the front page of the New York Post for the rest of its life.’”

Video Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

ANDERSON COOPER: I finally go over to my mom's house. I'm like, OK, mom. What-- what is it you want to talk about? She said, well, the most incredible thing happened. I said, well, wow. What is that? I was like, oh, my god. What could this be? She said, well, I went to the gynecologist last week. She's like, well-- and she told me the most amazing thing. She told me, I could still bear a child.

- CNN anchor, Anderson Cooper, joined the "Late Show with Stephen Colbert," Thursday, where he spoke about his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, who died at the age of 95 in July of 2019. But as Cooper tells it, she had a wild idea at the age of 85.

ANDERSON COOPER: She was like, well, you know, you can get an egg anywhere nowadays. I was like, ah-huh. She was like, well, what I was thinking is you get an egg and, you know, fertilize it with your sperm, and I'll carry your child.

[LAUGHTER]

- Cooper, who now has a son he is co-parenting with his ex was blown away by his mom's offer.

ANDERSON COOPER: I was just stunned. And I finally said to her, I was like, you know, mom. I love you. But even for you, that is just [BLEEP] crazy. It's just nuts. I was like that-- that is so like weirdly at a pull on a whole other level.

- But Gloria, whose advice Cooper lovingly described as ludicrous at times, was still pushing the subject two years later.

ANDERSON COOPER: I got a thing in the mail that my mom has sent me, because that's how we communicated. And it's a newspaper clipping, and it's a photograph. The article-- the headline is "Grandmother bear's child for son." And my mom has circled it and then written in a note, see, exclamation mark.

[LAUGHTER]

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