We are all witnesses to the amazing relationship between Anderson Cooper and his mother, socialite and fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt. On Monday, the CNN journalist confirmed his mother’s passing after battling cancer at the age of 95.
One day after his announcement, Anderson turned to Instagram to pay tribute to his beloved Mom, saying:
“In the end, after all else is stripped away, there is only love. My mom believed in love more than anyone. It was her guide, her solace, it’s what drove her, and in her final moments, it is what surrounded her. “I love you, you know that,” she would say to me, and I did, I knew it from the moment I was born, and I will know it till the moment I die. It was her greatest gift to me.”
He added a number of pictures of a young Gloria as well as significant photos of his life with her. He capped the post with a moving image of their clasped hands. The post was definitely heartbreaking and people online were quick to console the grieving news anchor.
In a CNN obituary, Anderson recounted the events that took place before his mother’s passing.
“Earlier this month, we had to take her to the hospital. That’s where we learned she had very advanced cancer in her stomach and that it had spread. When the doctor told her she had cancer, she was silent for a while, and then she said, ‘Well, it’s like that old song: Show me the way to get out of this world, because that’s where everything is.”
Giving everyone a real glimpse of who his mom really was, Anderson also added,
“Love is what she believed in more than anything. Gloria Vanderbilt died as she lived: on her own terms.”
Over the years, Anderson has accomplished many things, always involving his mother, which only shows how much he valued her and their special bond.
There is no better way to celebrate their life together than through a joint memoir.
About four years ago, Anderson and Gloria wrote a memoir together discussing their lives as mother and son titled “The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son Talk About Life, Love, and Loss.”
Gloria was 91 years old then and at this time, Anderson was hit by the realization that his mother’s time was about to come to an end and he did not want to have any unsaid words left between them. In the memoir, he and his mom talked about everything that they have gone through and how they remained strong for each other despite the odds.
Gloria’s love for life is something Anderson feels at a loss with.
Anderson had seen his mother date quite a few men in her life. A beautiful heiress with a flair for fashion design and glamour is bound to have a colorful love life, after all.
When asked about his opinion on her dating life in a previous interview, Anderson admitted that it was a matter he didn’t know how to feel about. Gloria’s dating life was clearly more interesting than Anderson’s and he didn’t know what to make of it.
During his younger years, he used to think that Gloria and Errol Flynn had more than a friendship between them and only confirmed this when he was older. He even admitted how he bravely asked his mother about her rumored relationship with Marlon Brando.
To answer her son, Anderson recalls how Gloria only air quoted her response saying she “did date him once”. He was fully aware of how honest his mother could be and that she had no filter at all. Anderson only had to ask and Gloria would give him the honest truth.
Anderson’s childhood was amazing because of his super-mom.
Unlike any regular mom who stayed home to bake and keep house, Anderson’s heiress mother chose to follow her passion and designed fashionable jeans. At a young age, Anderson discovered the vast possibilities around him by drawing inspiration in the things that his parents did.
He used to think about having a regular mom and being pampered and treated like any other kid. However, this fantasy was overpowered by his wonder at how marvelous, creative and unconventional shewas.
Anderson recalls how he and his brother used to sit with the famous people that his parents would invite to dinner. Their parents wanted them to be a part of everything and they were never treated as kids who had to go somewhere else whenever guests were around.
Eventually, Anderson was able to look back to his childhood and realize just how incredible it was because not every child has the privilege to be raised in this manner.
Gloria was a ray of sunshine that made her son’s life shine even brighter.
Anderson has always admired his mother’s positive outlook on things. In one interview, made by the Television Critics Association panel, Anderson mentioned Gloria’s amazing positivity and how this contributes to her youthfulness.
“She’s like Henry VIII and I’m like his adviser, Cromwell. I think she does have this incredibly optimistic way of looking at things. She really believes the next great love is right around the corner, and there’s Mom’s guy on a boat in the Mediterranean just waiting to whisk her away. That very well may be … nothing would surprise me with my mom. But she’s the most youthful person I know, even at almost 92.”
He lost his beloved Mom and he knew it wouldn’t be easy to live without her. It is never easy to lose someone we love. Anderson, just like any other child who has lost a parent, is doing their best to cope with the loss of a parent.
Whether old or young, the bond between mother and child can never be broken, even if that parent is no longer around.
Despite the pain and grief, we know that Anderson will find the will to move forward. His mother may be physically gone but their bond will always be there to comfort him.
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