Anderson Cooper with sons Wyatt and Sebastian at his New England home.Photo:Victoria Stevens
Victoria Stevens
WhenAnderson Cooperwatches his young sons at play, he’s often reminded of his late brother, Carter.
“Just to see their relationship, it’s incredible,” Cooper, 56, says of Wyatt, 3, and 19-month-old Sebastian in the new issue of PEOPLE.
In fact, Cooper’s sons play with the same toys that the journalist and his older sibling once used.
“I recently found wooden blocks that my brother and I played with,” says Cooper, who is raising the boys with his friend and ex-partner, Benjamin Maisani. “That was a big toy for us.”
“They’ve got all these markings on them—we drew robots on them and stuff,” he continues. “And so now to see Wyatt playing with those and building things, it’s crazy.”
Sebastian, for his part, uses a box that Cooper made in the first grade. “I remember making this box. And now Sebastian has it and puts books in it and stuff,” he says.
“It’s lovely to see this cycle of life and of love and how all these things sort of repeat,” Cooper adds. “They are playing the same games I played as a kid and inventing new games. And I just have this incredible sense of wonder about that and witnessing that up close.”
Anderson Cooper and sons Wyatt and Sebastian posed for People Sept. 4.
As the sole survivor of his immediate family, Cooper is taking the time to go through his family’s belongings, organizing and digitizing photos and letters, so his boys will have a strong sense of their family history.
“Whenever in life they are interested in learning and looking at it, it’ll be there,” says Cooper.
Sorting through the personal items has been a deeply affecting process for the journalist.
“For me, it’s so fraught with memory and emotions and stuff,” he says. “You find a box of Christmas cards from, I don’t know, 1984, and you think, ‘Oh, I can just toss these.’ And you start to read them.”
Wyatt Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt with sons Anderson and Carter in 1972.Jack Robinson/Hulton Archive/Getty
Jack Robinson/Hulton Archive/Getty
He says he’s found letters fromMarilyn Monroe,Charlie ChaplinandFrank Sinatra, with whom his famous mother was once romantically involved.
“There’s letters from Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra telegrams and Charlie Chaplin’s Christmas cards. I didn’t know Charlie Chaplin sent Christmas cards. Nobody did,” he says.
For more on Anderson Cooper, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE.
source: people.com
