Anderson Cooper has a full and happy home!
The CNN Anchor is dad to two sons, 3-year-old Wyatt and 15-month-old Sebastian, both of whom he co-parents with his friend and former partner Benjamin Maisani. In September 2022, Cooper told PEOPLE just how much his sons amaze him.
"You forget how quickly they change and to see Sebastian and Wyatt together, that's really an amazing thing. Wyatt has been super sweet with him," he said.
Take a look at some of the tight-knit family's most special moments together.
It was big hugs for big boy Wyatt as he turned three in April this year. "This little peanut turned 3 today!" his doting papa wrote. "Wyatt Morgan Maisani-Cooper. He and his brother Sebastian are the greatest blessings I could ever have hoped for."
For Christmas Day 2022, big brother Wyatt showed his lil bro the ropes as he was celebrating his first big holiday. "Wyatt helped Sebastian celebrate his very first Christmas," the proud dad captioned this sweet pic of the tots in their pajamas.
During a September 2022 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Cooper shared a uniquely sweet part of his morning routine with his little ones.
"I wake up Wyatt first, and then he wants to come with me to wake up Sebastian, and he likes to get into Sebastian's crib," Cooper explained. "He has this thing now, I don't know where it came from, where he's like, 'I want to smell Sebastian, I want to smell the baby.'"
The broadcast mainstay added that his eldest maintained the same reaction with each whiff of his little brother's baby scent: "Every time he says the same thing, 'He smells like an angel,' and I'm like, 'Are you from a Christmas special?'"
On his second Father's Day as a dad (and first since becoming dad to two), Cooper – who lost his own dad when he was a child – took to Instagram to reflect on his relationship with the holiday. He shared a trio of photos featuring then 2-year-old Wyatt eating an ice cream cone atop his shoulders.
"For much of my life, Father’s Day was the day I avoided, pretending it didn’t exist, or that i’d forgotten what day it was," read the journalist's Instagram caption. "The pain of remembering was just too great. The loss of my dad, who died when i was ten, was so painful, and still is at times."
He continued, "But today I celebrated Father’s Day, remembering my dad, Wyatt, with little Wyatt and Sebastian and their Papa, Benjamin. I can’t believe how lucky I am."
While hosting Anderson Cooper 360° on Feb. 10, Cooper announced that he's now a dad of two!
He shared the birth of his second son, Sebastian Luke Maisani-Cooper, during his broadcast, adding that Sebastian was welcomed via surrogate.
"This is Sebastian Luke Maisani-Cooper. He was 6.8 lbs. at birth and he was healthy and happy and even his occasional hiccups, are to me, adorable," Cooper said. "He mostly just sleeps and eats and certainly poops, but he already seems like a wise and thoughtful little chap."
The CNN host also shared the first father-son photo of himself and his new baby boy on Instagram the morning after his announcement.
"Cuddling with Sebastian the day after he was born," Cooper wrote in the caption.
Sebastian is now little brother to Wyatt Morgan, who is Cooper's eldest son.
The CNN anchor shared a photo of himself planting a kiss on Wyatt with the caption, "Nothing is better than this."
(For tons of adorable Anderson and Wyatt photos, click here.)
In possibly the cutest April Fool's Day joke ever, Cooper and Andy Cohen put Wyatt and Andy's son Benjamin in the hot seats on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live in 2022.
Cooper celebrated Wyatt's first birthday with an adorable tribute on Instagram.
"Today is Wyatt's first birthday," the proud dad wrote on April 27, 2021. "I can't believe it has already been a year."
Andy Cohen shared a sweet photo matching in plaid button-downs in celebration of Wyatt's birthday. The Watch What Happens Live host captioned the shot, "Happy 1st Birthday Wyatt Cooper! I love twinning with you. XO Uncle Andy & Mr. Ben."
"Wyatt has never seen me on tv before, and he likely won't for a long while," Cooper wrote on April 19, 2021, as his son watched him host Jeopardy!, "but apparently he caught a bit of me on @Jeopardy! It was a dream come true to be guest hosting, and to pay tribute to #AlexTrebek and raise money for @hashaiti."
Could Wyatt bee any cuter?! For his first Halloween, Cooper's son was the most adorable bumblebee on the block.
Wyatt gets a loving look from Benjamin Maisani, who is Cooper's former partner and now co-parent. When introducing Sebastian, Cooper revealed that Maisani will also be adopting Wyatt and they will co-parent together.
"Wyatt calls me 'daddy' and Benjamin 'papa.' We're a family. Benjamin is also in the process of adopting Wyatt, who's last name will be changed to Maisani-Cooper as well," Cooper explained.
Selfie snuggle buds! "My son will be five months old in less than two weeks. He is such a happy baby even though he has started teething," Cooper shared on Instagram in September 2020, alongside a photo of the pair relaxing together.
Cooper added, "He loves being read to and so far Dr. Seuss is his favorite, particularly One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Ok, that's my favorite, but he does seem to like it a lot."
At just 6 weeks old, Wyatt was already one photogenic baby!
Wyatt clearly already looks up to his journalist father.
"I feel invested in the future in a way I hadn't really before," Cooper told PEOPLE. "There's something about having a child that makes you feel connected to what is happening and you want to make sure that the world this child is growing up in is a better one. You suddenly worry much more about the future of all of us."
Cooper told PEOPLE that having Wyatt in his life has made his heart exceptionally full.
"It feels like my life has actually begun," Cooper said. "And I sort of wonder, what was I waiting for? This is a new level of love. It's unlike anything I've experienced, and yet it's also very familiar and incredibly special and intimate. It's really extraordinary."
Cooper said of his surrogate, "Most of all, I am grateful to a remarkable surrogate who carried Wyatt, and watched over him lovingly, and tenderly, and gave birth to him."
"It is an extraordinary blessing - what she, and all surrogates give to families who can't have children. My surrogate has a beautiful family of her own, a wonderfully supportive husband, and kids, and I am incredibly thankful for all the support they have given Wyatt and me. My family is blessed to have this family in our lives."
Cooper felt extra blessed to be a first-time father.
On his show, Anderson Cooper 360°, he said, "As a gay kid, I never thought it would be possible to have a child, and I'm grateful for all those who have paved the way, and for the doctors and nurses and everyone involved in my son's birth," he wrote.
Wyatt Morgan Cooper was born via surrogate on April 27, 2020, making Anderson Cooper a first-time dad. Wyatt gets his namesake from Cooper's late father, Wyatt Emory Cooper.
"He is named after my father, who died when I was ten," Cooper explained in his emotional announcement on CNN. "I hope I can be as good a dad as he was. My son's middle name is Morgan. It's a family name on my mom's side. I know my mom and dad liked the name Morgan because I recently found a list they made 52 years ago when they were trying to think of names for me. Wyatt Morgan Cooper. My son."
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