Anderson Cooper said he realized he was gay when he was a child.
“I mean, I probably was, I don’t know, 7 years old when I realized – I’m not sure I knew the word ‘gay’ at the time, but I realized that something was going on. Something was different, ”he answered a question from a viewer on CNN’s“ Full Circle ”on Monday.
The CNN anchor, 53, said he revealed to some people in high school, but he didn’t really “love” that he was gay until he graduated from Yale University in 1989.
“I think I really accepted that – and I didn’t just accept it, but I totally embraced it and, you know, I came to love being gay – it would probably be right after college,” he said.
“You know, I kind of struggled in my teens, certainly, but even a little bit in college,” he continued.
Cooper explained that he had many interests at the time – and considered joining the army – but he felt he could not because he was gay and was concerned about his “security”.
“It seemed that there were many limitations and it was not what I imagined for my life. Or I imagined a family and getting married. All those things that weren’t possible at the time, ”said Cooper, who welcomed his son Wyatt through a replacement last year.
The network also said that being gay made him a better reporter because it gives him a different perspective.
Cooper came out publicly in an online letter in 2012.
“The fact is that I am gay, I always have been, I always will be and I couldn’t be happier, more comfortable with myself and proud,” he wrote.