Anderson Cooper opens up about realising and accepting he was gay: ‘One of the great blessings of my life’

News anchor says of his sexuality: ‘It took me a while to kind of fully embrace it’

Anderson Cooper has opened up about realising he was gay, which he called “one of the great blessings of my life,” while reflecting on the years it took him to embrace his sexuality.

The CNN anchor discussed his experience in response to a question from a viewer on CNN's Full Circle, who asked: “How did you learn to accept being gay? How old were you?”

In response to the inquiry, the 53-year-old revealed that he was six or seven when he “realised something was up,” but did not know the word gay at the time.

However, according to Cooper, he didn’t “really, truly embrace” being gay until he had graduated from college, despite telling some people about his sexuality in high school.

"I think I really, truly accepted it, and not just accepted it, but fully embraced it and came around to really loving the fact that I was gay right after college," he said.

The news anchor then reflected on some of the struggles he faced because of his sexuality during his teenage and college years, explaining “a lot of the things I wanted to do at the time, you couldn't be gay,” such as joining the military or travelling to certain places.

As he recognised his sexuality, the vision he had had for what his life would be like also changed, as same-sex marriage was not legal at the time.

"It felt like there were a lot of limitations on it, and it wasn't what I envisioned for my life," he recalled. "I imagined a family, getting married, and all those things which weren't possible at the time.

“So it took me a while to kind of fully embrace it.”

However, according to the father-of-one, a year after graduating college he realised that he didn’t want to “waste any more time worrying about this and sort of wishing I was some other way”.

Now, Cooper said he believes being gay is one of the “great blessings of my life”.

“It made me a better person, it made me a better reporter,” he said while discussing how his sexuality granted him the ability to see things from a different perspective.

"Especially when you grow up, kind of feeling like you're on the outside of things, and you're kind of an observer of things or not necessarily in the mainstream, you see society from a slightly different view,” he continued. “And I think that can be very valuable, and can impact how you treat other people, and how you see things.

“It's enabled me to love the people that I've loved and have the life that I've had, so I'm very blessed."

Cooper, who shares son Wyatt Morgan with his former partner Benjamin Maisani, came out publicly in 2012.

In an emotional Instagram post welcoming his son last April, the reporter expressed his joy at becoming a father.

“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 at the time.