Anderson Cooper Asked Ex-Boyfriend to Help Raise Newborn Son: ‘I Don’t Really Have a Family’

CNN host Anderson Cooper revealed in an interview Tuesday that he has asked former boyfriend Benjamin Maisani to co-parent his newborn son, Wyatt Morgan.

Speaking to SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show,  Cooper said that he is still close with Maisani, despite breaking up after more than ten years of dating.

“Don’t you want a clean break from this guy? I mean this was a guy, you were in love, you had a close relationship, why have him involved?” Stern asked Cooper.

“I don’t really have a family, so my friends have become my family,” Cooper conceded. “This is somebody I was involved with for ten years.”

“We didn’t work out as a couple, but… when I was a little kid, it was just my mom and my brother, but it was my mom — she was not the most parental person, and I wish some adult after my dad died had stepped in and just been like, ‘You know what, I’ll take you to a ball game,’” the CNN host continued. “Or, ‘Let’s go out to lunch every now and then, and let’s just talk.’ You know, no one ever did that and so I thought, well if something happens to me or even if something doesn’t happen to me, if more people love my son and are in his life, I’m all for that,” he added. “You know, my ex is a great guy, and I think it’s good to have two parents if you can.”

Cooper first announced the birth of his newborn baby boy via a surogate on April 30.

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I want to share with you some joyful news. On Monday, I became a father. This is Wyatt Cooper. He is three days old. He is named after my father, who died when I was ten. I hope I can be as good a dad as he was. My son's middle name is Morgan. It's a family name on my mom's side. I know my mom and dad liked the name morgan because I recently found a list they made 52 years ago when they were trying to think of names for me. Wyatt Morgan Cooper. My son. He was 7.2 lbs at birth, and he is sweet, and soft, and healthy and I am beyond happy. 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. 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. It is an extraordinary blessing – what she, and all surrogates give to families who cant have children. My surrogate has a beautiful family of her own, a wonderfully supportive husband, and kids, and I am incredibly thankful for all the support they have given Wyatt and me. My family is blessed to have this family in our lives I do wish my mom and dad and my brother, Carter, were alive to meet Wyatt, but I like to believe they can see him. 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.

A post shared by andersoncooper (@andersoncooper) on Apr 30, 2020 at 6:51pm PDT

“I never thought it would be possible to have a child, and I am so 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 during his on-air announcement.

“Most of all,” he added, “I am eternally grateful to a remarkable surrogate who carried Wyatt, watched over him lovingly, tenderly, and gave birth to him.”

Cooper’s son’s middle name, Morgan, is a name from his late mother Gloria Vanderbilt’s family tree.

“I do wish my mom and dad and my brother, Carter were alive to meet Wyatt,” Cooper stated, “but I like to believe they can see him. I imagine them all together, arms around each other, smiling and laughing and watching, looking down on us. Happy to know that their love is alive in me and in Wyatt… and that our family continues. New life and new love.”