Anderson Cooper Says He Once ‘Hated’ New Year’s Eve While Co-Hosting CNN Broadcast

It’s New Year’s Eve for Anderson Cooper, but he actually spent years hating the holiday.

During the Tuesday, December 31 broadcast of New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen on CNN, Cooper, 57, revealed the personal reason behind his previous feelings about New Year’s Eve.

Ahead of the show’s in memoriam segment, the journalist said New Year’s Eve “is a night that’s always been hard” for him.

“There’s a lot of people watching tonight who might not be out at a party … you might be alone or just with someone you love in your room or just by yourself,” he began.

Cooper continued: “I just want to say that New Year’s Eve is a night that’s always been hard for me. My dad died five days after the new year, he died on January 5th in 1978. And I remember I was 10 years old and watching the New Year’s Eve celebration that New Year, five days before he died, filled with fear and feeling very alone.”

Cooper’s father died of surgical complications. In a 2023 essay for CNN, Cooper said that despite experiencing several significant losses in his lifetime, he never truly grieved until he devoted an entire season of his time. All there is podcast for grief.

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The 60 minutes correspondent went on to say that he only started working on the holiday “because I hated New Year’s Eve because of it, and I just wanted to work on it.”

Cooper has hosted New Years Live since 2002 and he has grown to “enjoy” the annual event.

“I’ve come to enjoy being with Andy. And I’ve also come to enjoy being with all of you who may be looking alone or who may be grieving and not looking forward to the new year or haven’t had a good year,” he said.

“And I just want you to know that in all this merriment and all this rain … you’re not alone tonight,” Anderson concluded. “I’m with you, we’re with you. we see you and we welcome you and we’re glad you’re staying with us.”