Anderson Cooper to Exit ‘60 Minutes’ After Nearly 20 Years With CBS Show: ‘Great’ Honor

Anderson Cooper’s time with 60 Minutes is coming to an end after nearly 20 years.

Cooper, 58, announced on Monday, February 16, that he would not be renewing his contract with the long-running CBS series.

“Being a correspondent at 60 Minutes has been one of the great honors of my career. I got to tell amazing stories, and work with some of the best producers, editors, and camera crews in the business,” he told Variety in a statement. “For nearly twenty years, I’ve been able to balance my jobs at CNN and CBS, but I have little kids now and I want to spend as much time with them as possible, while they still want to spend time with me.”

According to Variety, Cooper, who joined 60 Minutes in 2007, had been in negotiations with CBS about a potential renewal in recent weeks but ultimately chose to focus on his work with CNN as anchor on Anderson Cooper 360°, as well as the network’s annual New Year’s Eve special, which he cohosts with Bravo’s Andy Cohen. 

Cooper is the father of two sons — Wyatt, 4, and Sebastian, 3 — whom he shares with ex Benjamin Maisani. The journalist announced during a May 2020 CNN Town Hall broadcast that he had secretly welcomed his first child via surrogate, later asking Maisani, whom he dated from 2009 to 2018, to coparent. 

“I don’t really have a family, so my friends have become my family,” he explained during a May 2020 appearance on The Howard Stern Show. “This is somebody I was involved with for 10 years. He’s a great guy. I think it’s good to have two parents if you can.”

He continued, “When I was a little kid, it was just my mom and my brother. 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,’ or, ‘Let’s go out to lunch every now and then, and let’s just talk.’ No one ever did that.” 

The exes expanded their brood in February 2022 with Benjamin. Cooper previously opened up to People about how he and Maisani, who is a nightclub owner, balance careers and parenthood. 

“I work nights, and so he’s there at night,” Anderson explained to the outlet, noting that it was a very “natural” process. “And we both wake up right before they wake up, get them their milk and spend the first couple of hours of the day just us with them. And Benjamin speaks French to them. I have no idea what they’re saying. I think they’re plotting against me.”