CNN anchor Anrson Cooper on when he realized he was gay

Contents:

• ANRSON COOPER SHAR WHEN HE REALIZED HE WAS GAY: 'ONE OF THE GREAT BLSGS OF MY LIFE'
• ANRSON COOPER REVEALS WHEN HE KNEW — AND ACCEPTED — HE WAS GAY
• ANRSON COOPER: ‘BEG GAY IS ONE OF THE BLSGS OF MY LIFE’

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

"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. "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The ary's "don't ask, don't tell" policy which prohibed openly gay, lbian and bisexual Amerins om servg, was officially repealed 2011.

ANRSON COOPER REVEALS WHEN HE KNEW — AND ACCEPTED — HE WAS GAY

" 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. "The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I uldn’t be any more happy, fortable wh myself, and proud, " he has sce weled a son, Wyatt Man Cooper, born April 27, 2020 via surrogate. "I thk beg gay is one of the great blsgs of my life, " Cooper add on "Full Circle.

Anrson Cooper is openg up about when he realized he was gay — and when he "really, tly accepted . "I mean, I was probably, I don't know, 7, when I kd of realized — I'm not sure I knew the word 'gay' at the time, but I realized somethg was up. Somethg was different, " he said, rpondg to someone who asked him how he learned to accept beg gay and how old he was when he did.

The news anchor said that while he had told people high school, wasn't until after llege that he "me around to really lovg the fact that I was gay. "I thk I really, tly accepted — and not jt accepted , but fully embraced and you know, 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’

"You know, I kd of stggled my teenage years, certaly, but even a ltle llege, " the father of one ntued, explag that "a lot of the thgs I wanted to do at the time, you uldn't be gay. "And I wanna embrace who I am, and as I've said before, I thk beg gay is one of the great blsgs of my life, " he said, addg that his perspective has "ma me a better person, and 's ma me a better reporter. " In 2016, the journalist was the first out gay man to morate a printial bate.

"When I was 12 years old and knew I was gay and thought about my life, always upset me bee I thought, 'I will never be able to have a kid, ' " Cooper said June for PEOPLE's first-ever Pri issue. Anrson talks about how he learned to embrace beg gay.