Andy Cohen explains why he and Anderson Cooper will never date

‘At this point, we know each other too well,’ Bravo host says of longtime friend

Andy Cohen has opened up about his relationship with Anderson Cooper, and why the pair will never be more than friends.

The Watch What Happens Live host, 53, has been a topic of conversation since he and the CNN anchor, 54, went viral for their New Year’s Eve broadcast, during which the pair drank numerous shots.

However, while a significant portion of the attention has focused on Cohen’s rant against former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, and his on-air criticism of Ryan Seacrest, other viewers were more interested in the relationship Cohen shares with his occasional co-host Cooper.

“Did Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper ever date? I’m kind of shipping them right now,” one viewer wrote during the broadcast.

Another person shared a video of the pair interacting on New Year’s Eve on TikTok, where they wrote: “I wish Andy and Anderson were a couple.”

“You gonna tell me they’re not dating/madly in love with each other?!” someone else captioned a TikTok video of Cohen and Cooper hugging.

Despite the fan support, Cohen revealed during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show this week that he and Cooper won’t be pursuing a romantic relationship any time soon, as the pair are “just friends”.

The Bravo host reflected on the relationship he shares with Cooper in response to a question from Stern, who asked: “What is it about Anderson Cooper that keeps you from falling in love with him?”

In response, Cohen said: “I just think it’s not what our relationship is based on. We’re just friends [and] that’s not a part of it. I think, at this point, we know each other too well. We’re not attracted to each other in that way.”

The admission prompted Stern to jokingly question whether it is Cooper’s white hair that keeps Cohen from finding him attractive, with the radio host suggesting that the colour “ages” the CNN anchor.

Cohen disagreed before acknowledging that he finds Cooper attractive but is simply not interested in him romantically.

“No, he’s a handsome guy,” he said, before concluding: “We’re not in that place.”

Cohen’s clarification comes after Cooper previously revealed that the close friends almost dated once - but that the date never happened because the talk-show host broke Cooper’s “cardinal rule” of mentioning his late mother, heiress, socialite, and actor Gloria Vanderbilt.

“Andy and I were first set up on a blind date, which never happened because we had a phone call and after two minutes I said: ‘I’m not dating this guy,’” Cooper revealed on Watch What Happens Live in 2016. “He broke my cardinal rule … he mentioned my mom within the first four sentences of meeting me.”

While the pair don’t see a romantic relationship in their future, they do maintain a close bond as single fathers, with Cooper, who is father to son Wyatt, one, and Cohen, who is father to son Ben, two, often sharing moments from playdates with their children on social media.