CNN's Jeremy Diamond B: Gay Rumors Bted, Explic Details Revealed

ANRSON COOPER SHAR WHEN HE REALIZED HE WAS GAY: 'ONE OF THE GREAT BLSGS OF MY LIFE'

Anrson Cooper was asked by a viewer on Full Circle about how old he was when he accepted that he was gay. * cnn gay reporter *

"I'm not sure I knew the word 'gay' at the time, but I realized somethg was up, " Cooper said a Q&A ssn Monday on CNN's "Full Circle, " addg that he began to tell iends when he was high school but still stggled through llege wh fully lovg himself. "I thk I really, tly accepted – and not jt accepted , but fully embraced and me around to really lovg the fact that I was gay – would probably be right after llege, " he said.

ANRSON COOPER: ‘BEG GAY IS ONE OF THE BLSGS OF MY LIFE’

"A lot of the thgs I wanted to do at the time, you uldn't be gay, " he said, cg an tert jog the U.

Ary, though out members of the gay muny were not allowed to serve at the time. The ary's "don't ask, don't tell" policy which prohibed openly gay, lbian and bisexual Amerins om servg, was officially repealed 2011. " He me out as gay to the public on July 2, 2012, allowg iend and wrer Andrew Sullivan to publish an email om him, sayg 'd bee clear that remag silent on the topic had given the false imprsn that he had somethg to hi.