Here's How Much Anderson Cooper Is Really Worth

Turn on CNN and you'll likely see the charismatic Anderson Cooper. The Anderson Cooper 360 host was previously a correspondent for ABC, having begun his journalism career post Yale in 1995 (via Biography). Some people may not know that the affable white-haired 53-year-old comes from a famous family, the Vanderbilts. His mom was Gloria Vanderbilt, a railroad heiress who became a well-known artist and fashion designer (via The Hollywood Reporter). About his mom, Cooper said on air, "What an extraordinary life. What an extraordinary mom. What an incredible woman."

The CNN fixture, whose father was Wyatt Emory Cooper, grew up in New York City — with money, obviously — and had an early career as a child model. But the Emmy-winning Cooper has amassed his own considerable fortune with his namesake show having been on the air for 17 years. In fact, you may be surprised to learn just how much one of America's favorite investigative reporters is worth.

In addition to anchoring Anderson Cooper 360, the new dad — his son Wyatt Morgan Cooper was born via surrogate in May of 2020 — has also written two books. One was co-written with Vanderbilt, entitled The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss. The other is his best-selling memoir, Dispatches from the Edge (via Cheat Sheet). Meanwhile, it's been reported that Cooper's CNN salary is as much as $12 million per year (via Celebrity Net Worth).

Then there's the question of Cooper's inheritance. Although he previously denied he would inherit a large sum of money from his mother, according to Fast Company, that number could actually be somewhere in the realm of $200 million. Interestingly, Vanderbilt viewed her own inheritance, which was passed down from Cornelius Vanderbilt, one of the five wealthiest people of all time, as somewhat of a curse, telling The New York Times in 1985, "I'm not knocking inherited money but the money I've made has a reality to me that inherited money doesn't have."

Ultimately, given his inheritance and his own admiral earnings, Anderson Cooper is said to have a net worth of between $110 million and $200 million. But perhaps he'll donate the money, having previously said, "I don't believe in inheriting money. I think it's an initiative sucker. I think it's a curse" (viaTown & Country).