Anderson Cooper on Confronting Past Loss and Finding ‘Bliss’ with Sons Wyatt and Sebastian (Exclusive)

Anderson Cooper is enjoying the joy of raising his sons.

“This is the best time of my life,” the 56-year-old CNN host says in the new issue of PEOPLE. “There’s no doubt about it.”

Cooper, who parents 3-year-old Wyatt Morgan and 19-month-old Sebastian Luke with her friend and ex-partner, nightclub owner Benjamin Maisani, 50, adds that she feels “moments of such bliss and humor and tenderness and the sheer delight of it that it blows my mind .”

Anderson Cooper shares an adorable new family photo as he celebrates son Wyatt’s 3rd birthday

It is a welcome change for a man who has suffered painful losses throughout his life. Cooper was 10 years old when his father, writer Wyatt Cooper, suffered a heart attack and died in 1978. Ten years later, Cooper’s older brother Carter died by suicide at the age of 23. His mother, socialite and fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt, died at the age of 95 in 2019.

After years of pushing his grief aside, he faces it so his sons don’t see the “shadows of loss” behind his eyes, as he said on his podcast, Anything with Anderson Cooper.

Talking to guests like Molly Shannon about their own grief helps, says Cooper, who launches a second season this fall: “It definitely makes me feel less alone.”

Anderson Cooper and Benjamin Maisani with their sons Sebastian and Wyatt on September 4.

Victoria Stevens

Leaving the past in the past allows Cooper – who marked twenty years of his CNN news show, Anderson Cooper 360 this month — to focus on a joyful future with his modern family.

Cooper, who lives with Maisani and the boys in New York as well as their home in Connecticut, says he loves the “routine” of their New England home.

“We have a diner that we go to every morning – they really like the people who run the diner. And they love to swim. I love getting them ready for their afternoon nap and sitting with them and reading and then letting them fall asleep in my arms. There is nothing better,” he explains.

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Co-parenting with Maisani was “very natural,” adds Cooper, who dated the business owner for several years until 2018. They remained friends and decided to raise the boys together after the reporter adopted them through a surrogate.

“I work at night, so he is there at night. And we both wake up right before they do, bring them milk and spend the first few hours of the day just with them,” explains Cooper. “And Benjamin speaks French to them. I have no idea what they are saying. I think they are plotting against me.”

Anderson Cooper plays with son Sebastian at home on September 4.

Victoria Stevens

The boys play well together — and even use some of Cooper’s old toys.

“Just to see their relationship, it’s amazing,” he says. “Recently I found wooden blocks that my brother and I used to play with. We drew robots and the like on them. And now it’s crazy to see Wyatt playing with them and building things.”

Cooper continues, “It’s nice to see this cycle of life and love and how all these things repeat themselves.”

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Even though the boys are young, Cooper is already thinking about what he wants to teach them about money and responsibility. This is something that crossed his mind while he was working on his book 2021 Vanderbiltthe history of his famous family, as well as his new book Astorwhich also chronicles the rise and fall of that American dynasty.

Who is Anderson Cooper’s mom? All about Gloria Vanderbilt

Both the Vanderbilts and the Astors have made and lost incredible fortunes, and Cooper wants his boys to understand the importance of making a living.

Asked what he wants to teach the boys about wealth, Cooper says, “It’s something I’ve been thinking about, and I don’t know if I have the answers to that yet.”

Anderson Cooper at Home September 4, 2023

Victoria Stevens

Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper joke about how their weekends have changed since becoming fathers

“Dad made it clear to me that the Vanderbilt fortune was not waiting for me. In retrospect, I’m very glad he did that because it made it clear from the start that whatever my mom’s past was, it had nothing to do with me from a financial standpoint,” he continues. “That set me on the path of wanting to work and finding out what I’m passionate about very early on. I want my kids to understand what makes them tick and I want to help them understand that.”

Meanwhile, he tries to be present in the moment to cherish every moment with Wyatt and Sebastian: “There’s a lot of important stuff happening and I want to see it.”

For more on Anderson Cooper, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.

Astor: The Rise and Fall of American Fortunes the book will hit the shelves on Tuesday, September 19.

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