Anderson Cooper Made A Controversial Decision About His $200 Million Fortune

So how much exactly does Cooper have in the bank? Well, according to website Celebrity Net Worth the figure is somewhere around the $200 million mark. That number will only continue to grow, too. He reportedly earns a cool $12 million each year for his Anderson Cooper 360 show on CNN.

Of course, Cooper is used to being surrounded by money. His great-great-great grandpa is none other than Cornelius Vanderbilt, a railroad and shipping tycoon reported to have been one of the five richest people in history. And Anderson’s mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, inherited some of that fortune: $5 million in 1925 to be exact, but that’s more like an inflation-adjusted $70 million in today’s money.

Gloria was herself initially reported to have amassed $200 million by the time she passed away following a battle with stomach cancer in 2019. The heiress’ fortune was said to have been boosted as the founder of a popular denim clothing company. Of course, Cooper had already made a similar amount himself at this point, too.

Cooper first caught attention as an ABC News correspondent in the mid-1990s before landing an anchorman position on CNN in 2001. He’s remained a fixture there ever since. And as the newscaster’s popularity grew, so did his paychecks. In 2007 the star doubled his annual salary to $4 million thanks to a lucrative new contract.

And Cooper’s often proved that he’s worth it. The newscaster has picked up several Emmys during a glittering career, with highlights including his coverage of the funeral of the Princess of Wales and the devastation caused by the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The TV journalist has certainly enjoyed reaping the rewards of his hard work, too.

In 2010 Cooper spent $4.3 million on a converted firehouse in the Greenwich Village area of New York. The anchorman also has a property by the beach in Trancoso, a town in Brazil. But since April 2020 the newscaster is more likely to have been splashing the cash on milk formula and diapers.

Yes, that’s when Cooper revealed live on air that he was now a proud father. The CNN favorite later captioned an Instagram snap of himself holding a little tot, “This is Wyatt Cooper. He is three days old. He is named after my father, who died when I was ten. I hope I can be as good a dad as he was.”

Cooper went on to express how grateful he was for the opportunity. He thanked the medical team involved in Wyatt’s birth, the baby’s “remarkable surrogate,” and everyone who helped “pave the way.” The anchorman — who publicly came out in 2012 — also revealed that he had never thought that becoming a father was an option as a gay kid.

Custody of Wyatt is shared between Cooper and his ex-boyfriend Benjamin Maisani. The newscaster and businessman had spent nine years together before going their separate ways in 2018. But as the journalist revealed to TV show Entertainment Tonight shortly after, their split had been entirely amicable. He said, “We are still family to each other, and love each other very much.”

It’s an arrangement that a year on seemed to still be going swimmingly. In a chat with People magazine, Cooper admitted that although his and Maisani’s set-up was unusual it was also “awesome.” He said, “I’ve always believed that if you’ve been with somebody and that ends, in terms of an intimate relationship, if you love somebody, there’s no reason why that love shouldn’t continue.”

That’s not to say it’s always a bed of roses between the pair, as Cooper freely admitted. He said, “There’s the usual bickering that any two people have when there’s a kid involved, like what time should he go to swimming class, or should he wear the overalls, or whatever. But all silly, minor things. We get along great.”

Speaking to the same magazine shortly after Wyatt’s birth, Cooper revealed he had been inspired to become a parent by his own. The star explained, “My dad grew up very poor in Mississippi; my mom, obviously, grew up the way she did. [So to] have them meet and fall in love and create a family of their own and have this little family of ours... it made me really sad to think that I’m the only person left from that union.”

Cooper went on to add, “I’m the only person left who remembers all those stories of my mom, my dad, and my brother. I wanted to have a child who came from that and grew up knowing about that. That’s why I chose to do it the way I did it.” The anchorman’s older brother Carter had taken his own life aged just 23 in 1988. And the newsman had lost his father as a ten-year-old; his parent hadn’t survived a heart operation.

But Cooper’s immediate family wasn’t the only inspiration behind his decision to become a father. He was also encouraged by how his close friend Andy Cohen had taken to parenthood, too. The Bravo regular had welcomed son Ben into the world via surrogacy a year earlier. And as the newscaster observed to newspaper USA Today, “I figured if he can do it, that sort of gave me the final push.”

As well as asking Andy for advice, Cooper has also asked his long-time friend for hand-me-downs. Yes, despite earning $12 million per year for his work on CNN, the newsman isn’t afraid to admit that he’s “inherently cheap.” It’s why you’ll often see Wyatt in clothes previously worn by Andy’s son, Ben.

Cooper explained why someone with a reported net worth of $200 million didn’t just head for the nearest designer baby clothing store. He said, “I was planning on going shopping, which I hate to do. And then online shopping: How do you do that for baby clothes?... It just seemed weird. So yeah, he just gave me all the clothes.”

Surrogacy hadn’t been the only method that Cooper had considered when it came to fatherhood. He told People that adopting a child from abroad had also been something he’d investigated. But the combination of red tape and the need for privacy had inspired the newsman to go down a different route.

Cooper is also open to giving Wyatt a little sister or brother in the future, although he admits he needs time to clear his head and get some well-earned sleep first before properly considering it. Whether the news anchor will opt for surrogacy again remains to be seen, though. He described the whole process as “difficult,” “time-consuming,” and “incredibly expensive.”

The fact that baby Wyatt has already cost Cooper a small fortune perhaps explains why the anchorman made a surprising revelation in 2021. During an appearance on Morning Meeting, a podcast spinoff from digital news source Air Mail, the CNN regular told listeners what he planned to leave his son in his will. And it pretty much amounts to a big fat nothing.

A candid Cooper explained to the hosts, “I don’t believe in passing on huge amounts of money. I don’t know what I’ll have. I’m not that interested in money, but I don’t intend to have some sort of pot of gold for my son.” And just like the decision to become a parent, this viewpoint was also inspired by his mother.

Cooper added, “I’ll go with what my parents said…‘College will be paid for, and then you gotta get on it.’” The anchorman had first disclosed his mom’s stance on the matter in a 2014 chat on The Howard Stern Show. The journalist told the shock jock that he’d already been informed that there was no trust fund waiting for him once his heiress mother passed away.

Far from being bitter about the lack of a financial windfall, Cooper insisted that he was completely on board with his mom’s wishes. He said, “I don’t believe in inheriting money… I think it’s a curse… From the time I was growing up, if I felt like there was some pot of gold waiting for me, I don’t know if I would have been so motivated.”

Cooper’s sentiments echoed those of his mother’s when she discussed the money that had been passed through the Vanderbilt family in a 1985 interview with newspaper The New York Times. Gloria had said, “I’m not knocking inherited money. But the money I’ve made has a reality to me that inherited money doesn’t have.”

Yet it seems as though Gloria didn’t stay entirely true to her word. Following her death at the age of 95 in 2019, website Page Six reported that probate documents showed the heiress had left Cooper the majority of her estate. That figure was estimated to be approximately $1.5 million — a sum accurately predicted by the newsman five years previously.

Yes, on The Howard Stern Show, Cooper had dismissed rumors that his mother still had hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank. He said, “I don’t know what the amount is going to be but it’s not some huge estate.” The newscaster also offered an explanation as to how the Vanderbilt family had lost so much money.

Cooper said, “My mom lived a big life and made a lot of money, spent a lot of money, had people embezzle money. She wasn’t interested in money. I know people would imagine that’s what she was interested in. She had no sense of it. She cared about being generous to her friends and having a nice physical environment and creating art.”

But Cooper never took advantage of his mom’s generous spirit. In fact, he ended up paying back the money she had given him for college, among other things. Proving that he hasn’t earned a reputation as CNN’s shrewdest newsman for nothing, the journalist then estimated that his mom’s estate would be between $1.5 and $2 million.

Cooper did have to share at least some of the estate that Gloria had unexpectedly passed on. The property she owned in Midtown New York was given to her oldest son, Stan Stokowski. But Chris Stokowski, the son to whom she hadn’t spoken in years, wasn’t mentioned in the court documents obtained by Page Six.

So is Cooper concerned at all that he might follow in his mother’s footsteps and not have anything to leave in his will anyway? It seems not. When asked the question during his appearance on Morning Meeting, the 60 Minutes host replied, “No, because I grew up watching money being lost and knowing it was being lost.”

Cooper went on to add, “I, from a very young age, I was very aware of, ‘This is not me. This is something my mom has, or this is money that my mom has. But it’s not money I’m going to have, and I need to forge my own way.’”

And Cooper was also more than happy to discuss how all this money was lost in his 2021 book. But the Emmy winner wrote Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty more as a family history lesson than a cautionary tale. In a chat with People, the news anchor said, “In some ways, I wanted this to be a letter to my son.”

Cooper continued, “My dad wrote a book before he died about his family growing up in Mississippi. And because he died when I was so young, a lot that I know of him came from that book. I wanted to write a letter to Wyatt about this crazy and unusual part of his family’s past.”

Mind you, Cooper is far from the first celebrity to try to motivate their kids to pay their own way. In 2017 Gordon Ramsay told newspaper The Daily Telegraph that he wants to avoid spoiling his and wife Tana’s offspring. The fiery celebrity chef will put down a deposit for a flat representing a quarter of its value, but nothing more.

Daniel Craig has now ended his stint as James Bond with the long-delayed No Time to Die. But when it is the actor’s time to die, he won’t be leaving a cent to his kids. Craig told Saga magazine in 2020 that he found the concept of inheriting money distasteful, adding, “My philosophy is to get rid of it or give it away before you go. I don’t want to leave great sums to the next generation.”

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis are also giving any ideas about trust funds a wide berth. In 2018 on Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert, the former revealed that he and his wife plan to donate all their cash to charity when they shuffle off their mortal coils. Kutcher acknowledged, “My kids are living a really privileged life, and they don’t even know it.”

Then there’s Gene Simmons, who told People in 2007 that he had no plans to pass down any of the riches he earned as the lead vocalist of KISS. He stated, “I don’t want them to say, ‘Thanks, dad, for making me rich.’ No, you wanna be able to stand on your own two feet and say, ‘I did that.’”

And if Bill Gates’ kids thought they’d automatically enter the “World’s Richest” list once their father passed away, then they needed to think again. In 2011 the Microsoft founder revealed to newspaper The Daily Mail that his offspring would be inheriting just a “miniscule portion” of his fortune. Of course, with a reported net worth of $130 billion, that “miniscule portion” is still likely to be a multi-million-dollar sum.

Gates, who plans to give most of his money away to charity, explained, “They will be given an unbelievable education and that will all be paid for. And certainly anything related to health issues we will take care of. But in terms of their income, they will have to pick a job they like and go to work. They are normal kids now. They do chores, they get pocket money.”

In 2008 the world’s most glamorous chef Nigella Lawson told magazine My Weekly, “I am determined that my children should have no financial security. It ruins people not having to earn money.”

Sting’s six children also shouldn’t expect to receive much once their father passes away. In 2014 the pop icon told the Mail on Sunday that he plans to spend as much of his $300 million fortune as possible while alive. He added, “I certainly don’t want to leave them trust funds that are albatrosses round their necks. They have to work. All my kids know that and they rarely ask me for anything, which I really respect and appreciate.”

And then there’s Andrew Lloyd Webber, who in 2008 revealed to the Daily Mirror that his five kids aren’t even bothered that they won’t see a penny in his will. He said, “They don’t think that way. It is about having a work ethic – I don’t believe in inherited money at all.”

Being in one of America’s most popular musical families sure has paid off for Marie Osmond. But while co-hosting daytime talk show The Talk in 2020, the entertainer made a surprising announcement about what she plans to do with her considerable wealth. And it’s fair to say that her kids probably aren’t on board!

Osmond explained that she’d come to this particular decision alongside Steve Craig – the man she’s walked down the aisle with not just once but twice. The pair have a son called Stephen from their first marriage in the mid-1980s. Though their agreement also affects the six kids she has with another ex-husband.

Osmond said “I do” to Brian Blosil in 1986 – just a year after divorcing Craig. And the couple went on to have daughters Jessica, Rachael, Brianna and Abigail and sons Brandon, Matthew and Michael before splitting in 2007. Tragically, the latter died three years later at just 18 years old.

We aren’t yet sure what Osmond and Craig’s offspring think about the matter, though we do know the thoughts of several of the former’s old colleagues. Yes, during the same episode Sharon Osbourne took umbrage with her The Talk co-host’s future financial plans. Sheryl Underwood also made her feelings crystal clear, telling Osmond, “I disagree with that.”

So, how much is Osmond worth exactly? Well, according to Celebrity Net Worth, the entertainer has an impressive $20 million in the bank. That’s perhaps little surprise considering she’s been a part of the fame game for almost half a century! Although Osmond isn’t afraid to splash the cash, either.

You might not know that Osmond actually owns several properties. But her heart truly belongs to the lavish Utah home that she and Craig spend more time in than any other. And when you see the property’s spectacular array of features, you can understand why it’s their favorite.

Situated in the city of St. George, the house boasts a home cinema, games room, sauna and outdoor swimming pool complete with a middle island. Osmond and Craig can also enjoy awe-inspiring views and rustle up something to eat in a luxurious kitchen. The place is lined with the most exquisite of hardwood floors, too.

But there’s one particular room that Osmond appreciates more than any other. In 2020 she told Closer Weekly, “Every house I’ve ever had has what I call, ‘My place, my space.’ It’s where I craft. It’s where I paint. It’s where I read. This is where I [have] all the good memories.”

And Osmond got the chance to proudly show her Utah home off to the world in 2020 when she co-hosted The Talk from it. The talent sat in her extravagant kitchen and chatted with another star who shot to fame in the ’70s – Olivia Newton-John. Fans marveled at both Osmond’s elegant taste in both lamps and ceiling design.

And with her kids all grown up now, Osmond now only has to share the space with one other person. In 2020 the singer explained to The Talk, “My husband and I came here to Utah, our home. It has been lovely to just have that time to connect. We remarried, we were apart for, like, 25 years, so all of a sudden, we are alone – this is the first time we’ve been alone since I can remember.”

Of course, Osmond first got used to living with a large family while growing up. After all, she’s the younger sister of Alan, Merrill, Jay, Jimmy, Wayne and Donny – aka ’70s pop sensation The Osmonds. Having watched her brothers conquer the charts, the future co-host of The Talk decided she wanted to follow in their footsteps.

Encouraged by her mom, Olive, Osmond headed into the recording studio in her teens. Distancing herself from her brothers’ sound, the youngster initially pursued a Nashville-inspired music direction. And it proved to be a clever move. In 1973 she became the first woman to score a country chart-topper with their first-ever single thanks to “Paper Roses.”

Osmond continued to add to her pocket money with a number one album before teaming up with unarguably her most popular brother in 1976. The pair hosted a successful self-titled variety program for three seasons called Donny & Marie. During this era, Osmond also launched an acting career. In fact, she was offered the part of Sandy in Grease but decided to pass over concerns about the hit musical’s morality.

By revisiting the country sound she’d made her name with, Osmond boosted her fortune in the mid-1980s. The star even increased her tally of number ones with “Meet Me In Montana,” “There’s No Stopping Your Heart” and “You’re Still New to Me.” Then in 1998 Osmond joined forces with brother Donny again for a talk show that lasted two seasons.

Donny and Marie achieved massive success in the 21st century on the Las Vegas circuit. In fact, they performed no fewer than 16,000 dates in Sin City across 11 years before calling it a day at the end of 2019. By this point, the younger half of the duo had also established herself as a talk show host.

That’s right: just a few weeks before waving goodbye to Las Vegas, Osmond replaced Sara Gilbert on The Talk. Throw in Broadway performances in The King and I and The Sound of Music, several books and numerous lucrative commercials and it’s little wonder she has such considerable wealth. Though Osmond has never taken her busy and lucrative career for granted.

In 2019 Osmond told Closer Weekly, “I feel so blessed that I’ve done so many different things. I believe you always have something that you want to do. I probably will work until I’m dead just because it’s always been a safe place for me. When life brought lots of lemons, work was my lemonade…”

And Osmond has done her best to pay things forward, too. In 1983 she teamed up with Mick Shannon, John Schneider and Joseph G. Lake to launch a telethon. Raising almost $5 million for nearly two dozen facilities, the initiative grew into Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. It has since helped 170 U.S. hospitals treat approximately 10 million kids, according to the organization.

In 2015 Osmond told Grand Magazine, “People don’t realize that their local children’s hospitals are charities that need our support. They rely on donations to buy equipment, provide care to children in need and for basic expenses. They are often last on the list to receive funds. CMN Hospitals serve 10 million kids every single year. These kids deserve the best care available.”

Osmond has also put her name to several other charitable causes over the years. The American Heart Association, the Gibson Girl Foundation and STOMP Out Bullying are just a few of the organizations that have benefited from her support over the years. Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals has also aligned itself to another charity close to Osmond’s heart: the foundation her family set up to help the hard of hearing.

As well as being a proud philanthropist and veteran entertainer, Osmond is also very much a family woman. In a 2019 interview with People, she described her eight children as “the best things I’ve ever done, ever… They’re all really hard workers and they are kind to each other and try really hard to be kind to people.”

Osmond continued, “Some of my kids are adopted and I can’t remember which ones. But some of them are more like me than my biological and I’m like, ‘I know why God sent you to me!’” Yes, you might not know that Osmond adopted five kids with second husband Blosil: Michael, Jessica, Abigail, Brandon and Brianna.

A year later Osmond told her fellow The Talk panelists how proud she was that her family had stuck together during such a worrying year. She said, “… As a mother, it has been such a joy to see. Because you wonder, when you leave this earth are your children going to stay close? Are they still going to still connect? And I know they will.”

Osmond went on to add, “It’s just been this wonderful peace that they really love each other and they’re looking out for each other. For me, that’s been such an incredible joy as a mom.” Of course, the “Paper Roses” singer also now gets to experience the incredible joy of being a grandmother!

In 2019 Osmond’s daughter Brianna gave birth to a little girl named Maude Bailey-Moon. A year later she and husband David Schwep welcomed another child into the world: Mabel. Brianna’s sister Rachel is also a mother-of-two, while older brother Stephen is a proud parent to Christian, Stephen Jr. and Maxwell.

Osmond may currently have eight kids and no fewer than seven grandkids to spend her reported $20 million fortune on. But her family shouldn’t expect to see a cent of it when the star dies. That’s because in 2020 Osmond revealed on The Talk that she’d be leaving all of her offspring out of her will.

In front of the show’s shocked panel, Osmond explained, “I’m not leaving any money to my children. Congratulations, kids. My husband and I decided that you do a great disservice to your children to just hand them a fortune because you take away the one most important gift you can give your children, and that’s the ability to work.”

A determined Osmond went on to add, “You see it a lot in rich families where the kids don’t know what to do so they get in trouble. So, I just let them be proud of what they make and I’m going to give mine to my charity.” And Osmond was speaking from experience here, too.

Osmond told the panel and audience at home that she wanted to avoid the situation that once caused unrest among her own relatives. She explained, “I had an uncle and an aunt, her family fought over a mirror and a table when they passed away. My mother said, ‘That will never happen.’”

As you would expect, the always outspoken Sharon Osbourne couldn’t help but put her two cents’ worth in. The Talk co-host revealed that unlike Osmond, every dollar made by her and husband Ozzy would stay in the family. She added, “[Everything] he’s written – and kept us all in the lifestyle that we love – goes to my children.”

Osbourne continued, “And his name and likeness goes to my children. Because you leave your name and likeness, and I don’t want someone that never met my husband owning his name and likeness, and selling T-shirts everywhere and whatever.” According to Parade magazine, Osbourne’s combined net worth stands at a staggering $220 million!

Another co-host also disagreed with Osmond over the viewpoint that kids born into wealth don’t appreciate what they had. Sheryl Underwood responded, “When you come from a family of money, you raise your children to value money and to understand money. And because they were born into the family, they should have a healthy respect for money.”

Underwood continued, “I would love to have some type of money left for me from somebody else so I can have a leg up. I think when wealthy people say, ‘I’m not leaving my kids anything,’ well, they’ve been living this great life.’” But what about the general public’s response? Judging by Twitter, it appears to be mixed.

Some seemed to be on Underwood’s side, like the user who posted, “I don’t understand parents. Educate your kids about the good and the bad about having money. Don’t leave them with nothing... Ugh... So sad how parents do that to their kids.” Another issued Osmond with an F- grade for parenting for “running around bragging that they are not leaving any money to any of their children and their kids are fine with it.”

But Osmond also had several people in her corner, such as the user who remarked, “She has every reason not to leave her money to her family. It’s her money. Keep your noses out of other people’s business, buttheads.” Another thanked the singer on Twitter for “being grounded in the real world.”