Anderson Cooper Honors Mom Gloria Vanderbilt On 1-Year Anniversary Of Her Death

Anderson Cooper paid tribute to his mother Gloria Vanderbilt this week to acknowledge the one-year anniversary of her death. 

On Wednesday, the CNN anchor posted a throwback photo of Vanderbilt in her art studio to Instagram, noting, “She is alive in my heart.” 

“She experienced great love and horrific tragedies, but she never lost her almost childlike optimism,” Cooper continued. “She chose to remain vulnerable.” 

Vanderbilt died June 17, 2019, from stomach cancer in New York. The artist, author, actress and fashion icon was 95. 

Cooper, 53, has spoken at length about his mother in recent interviews. In April, he welcomed his first son, Wyatt Cooper ― a milestone, he said, that was especially poignant given that it took place less than a year after Vanderbilt’s death. 

When asked how his mom reacted to news of her then-impending grandchild, Cooper said: “She was thrilled.”

“I was able to tell her shortly before she died that I was going to have a baby,” he told Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest in May. “Wyatt wasn’t actually a being at that point. He was an idea in my head and I was in the process of it.”

Wyatt’s middle name, Morgan, is a Vanderbilt family name.

Cooper has decorated his son’s nursery with several nods to his mother, including an antique cupid that always hung in her apartment.