The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (December 2010)

Alimony (also called maintenance (Britain) and spousal support (U.S.)) is a U.S. term denoting a legal obligation to provide financial support to one's spouse from the other spouse after marital separation or from the ex-spouse upon divorce. It is established by divorce law or family law in many countries and is based on the premise that both spouses in theory have a legal obligation to support each other during their marriage (or civil union) or upon separation or/and divorce.

History[link]

Alimony has been discussed in ancient legal texts including the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (#137-#142)^[1] and the Code of Justinian.^{[citation needed]} The concept of modern alimony in the United States derives from English ecclesiastical courts that awarded alimony in cases of separation and divorce. Alimony Pendente lite was given until the divorce decree, based on the husband's duty to support the wife during a marriage that still continued. Post-divorce or permanent alimony was also based on the notion that the marriage continued, as ecclesiastical courts could only award a divorce a mensa et thora, similar to a legal separation today. As divorce did not end the marriage, the husband's duty to support his wife remained intact.^[2]

Look up alimony in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The term alimony comes from the Latin word alimōnia ("nourishment, sustenance", from alere, "to nourish"), from which also alimentary (of, or relating to food, nutrition, or digestion) and the Scots law concept of aliment, and was a rule of sustenance to assure the wife's lodging, food, clothing, and other necessities after divorce.^[3]

Liberalization of divorce occurred in the nineteenth century, but divorce was only possible in cases of marital misconduct. As a result, the requirement to pay alimony became linked to the concept of fault in the divorce.^[4] Alimony to wives was paid because it was assumed that the marriage, and the wife's right to support, would have continued but for the misbehavior of husband. Ending alimony on divorce would have permitted a guilty husband to profit from his own misconduct. In contrast, if the wife committed the misconduct, she was considered to have forfeited any claim to ongoing support. However, during the period, parties could rarely afford alimony, and so it was rarely awarded by courts.^[2] As males' incomes increased, and with it the possibility of paying alimony, the awarding of alimony increased, generally because a wife could show a need for ongoing financial support, and the husband had the ability to pay.^[2][5] No-fault divorce led to changes in alimony. Whereas spousal support was considered a right under the fault-based system, it became conditional under the no-fault approach.^[5] According to the American Bar Association, marital fault is a "factor" in awarding alimony in 25 states and the District of Columbia.^[6] Permanent alimony began to fall out of favor, as it prevented former spouses from beginning new lives,^[5] though in some states (e.g., Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Tennessee), permanent alimony awards continued.^{[7][8][9][10]} Alimony moved beyond support to permitting the more dependent spouse to become financially independent or to have the same standard of living as during the marriage or common law marriage, though this was not possible in most cases.^[2][11]

In the 1970s, the United States Supreme Court ruled against gender bias in alimony awards, and the percentage of alimony recipients who are male rose to 3.6% in 2006.^[12] In states like Massachusetts and Louisiana, the salaries of new spouses may be used in determining the alimony paid to the previous partners.^{[10] [13]} Most recently, in several high profile divorces, females such as Britney Spears, Victoria Principal, and Jessica Simpson have paid multi-million dollar settlements in lieu of alimony to ex-husbands who were independently wealthy.^[14][15] According to lawyers, males are becoming more aggressive in the pursuit of alimony awards as the stigma associated with asking for alimony fades.^[15]

Reckoning[link]

Once dissolution proceedings commence, either party may seek interim or pendente lite support during the course of the litigation.

Where a divorce or dissolution of marriage (civil union) is granted, either party may ask for post-marital alimony. It is not an absolute right, but may be granted, the amount and terms varying with the circumstances. If one party is already receiving support at the time of the divorce, the previous order is not automatically continued (although this can be requested), as the arguments for support during and after the marriage can be different.

Unless the parties agree on the terms of their divorce in a binding written instrument, the court will make a determination based on the legal argument and the testimony submitted by both parties. This can be modified at any future date based on a change of circumstances by either party on proper notice to the other party and application to the court. The courts are generally reluctant to modify an existing agreement unless the reasons are compelling. In some jurisdictions the court always has jurisdiction to grant maintenance should one of the former spouses become a public charge.

In the U.S. state law establishes requirements regarding alimony (and child support) payments, recovery and penalties. A spouse trying to recover back alimony sometimes may use only the collection procedures that are available to all other creditors (such as reporting the amount due to a collection agency).

One who allows his or her alimony obligations to go into arrears, where there is an ability to pay, may be found in contempt of court and be sent to jail.^[16] Alimony obligations are not discharged as a result of the obligee filing bankruptcy.^[17] Ex-spouses who allow child-support obligations to go into arrears may have certain licenses seized, be found in contempt of court, and/or be sent to jail.^[18] Like Alimony, child-support obligations are not discharged as a result of the obligee filing bankruptcy.^[17]

Child support[link]

Alimony is not child support, where, after divorce, one parent is required to contribute to the support of their children by paying money to the child's other parent or guardian. Considered a payment that a parent is making for the support of their offspring, the parent who pays child support pays the taxes ^[19] however, alimony is treated as taxable income to the receiving spouse, and, in certain cases, deducted from the gross income of the paying spouse.

Factors affecting alimony[link]

The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (December 2009)

The determination of alimony varies greatly from country to country and from state to state within the U.S.^[4] Some state statutes, including those of Texas, Montana, Kansas, Utah, Kentucky and Maine, give explicit guidelines to judges on the amount and/or duration of alimony. In Texas, Mississippi and Tennessee for example, alimony is awarded only in cases of marriage or civil union of ten years or longer and the payments are limited to three years unless there are special, extenuating circumstances. Furthermore, the amount of spousal support is limited to the lesser of $2,500 per month or 40% of the payee's gross income.^[20][21][22] In Delaware, spousal support is usually not awarded in marriages of less than 10 years.^[20] In Kansas, alimony awards cannot exceed 121 months.^[20] In Utah, the duration of alimony cannot exceed the length of the marriage.^[20] In Maine, Mississippi, and Tennessee alimony is awarded in marriages or civil union of 10 to 20 years and the duration is half the length of the marriage barring extenuating circumstances.^[20] Other states, including Massachusetts, California, Nevada and New York have relatively vague statutes which simply list the "factors" a judge should consider when determining alimony (see list of factors below).^{[20][23][24][25]} In these states, the determination of duration and amount of alimony is left to the discretion of the family court judges who must consider case law in each state. In Massachusetts, Mississippi, Texas and Tennessee, for example, there are 135 Appellate cases in addition to 47 sections of State Statute that shape divorce law. As a result of these Appellate Cases, for example, Massachusetts and Mississippi judges cannot order an end date to any alimony award. Most alimony awards in the states are made for life usually regardless of the length of the marriage or civil union (for marriages or civil unions over 10 years).^[23][26]

In general, there are four types of alimony.^[27]

Temporary Alimony: Support ordered when the parties are separated prior to divorce. Also called alimony pendente lite which is Latin meaning "pending the suit".

Rehabilitative Alimony: Support given to a lesser earning spouse for a period of time necessary to acquire work outside the home and become self-sufficient.

Permanent Alimony: Support paid to the lesser earning spouse until the death of the payor, the death of the recipient, or the remarriage of the recipient.

Reimbursement Alimony: Support given as a reimbursement for expenses incurred by a spouse during the marriage (like educational expenses).

Some of the possible factors that bear on the amount and duration of the support are:

Alimony Reform in the United States[link]

In the United States family laws and precedents as they relate to divorce, community property and alimony vary based on state law. Also, with new family models, "working couples", "working wives", "stay-at-home dads", etc. there are situations where some parties to a divorce question whether traditional economic allocations made in a divorce are fair and equitable to the facts of their individual case. Some groups have proposed various forms of legislation to reform alimony parameters (i.e. amounts and term).^{[5] [13][29][30][31][32]} Alimony terms are among the most frequent issues causing litigation in family law cases.^[5][8] Eighty percent of divorce cases involve a request for modification of alimony.^[33][34]

English Common Law[link]

Divorce law in the U.S. was based on English Common Law, which developed at a time when a female gave up her personal property rights on marriage (see Coverture). Upon separation from marriage, the husband retained the right to the wife's property, but, in exchange, had an ongoing responsibility to support the wife after dissolution of the marriage.^[4][5][9] British law was amended by legislation including Married Women's Property Act 1870 and Married Women's Property Act 1882 which reformed females' property rights relating to marriage, by, for example, permitting divorced females to regain the property they owned before marriage.^{[5][9][30][33][35]}

State Reform Initiatives[link]

Some states (e.g. Florida, Texas, Maine) are moving away from permanent alimony awards that are intended to maintain a spouses' standard of living enjoyed during the marriage and are moving towards durational or rehabilitative alimony.^[30][36] In other states, like Mississippi, Massachusetts and Tennessee, alimony is usually awarded for life.^[10][37][38]

Some of the critical issues that proponents and opponents of alimony reform disagree upon are:

• Whether alimony should be temporary or permanent^[30]
• Regardless of duration, should alimony payees have the unquestionable right to retire?^[39]
• Does the lesser earning spouse deserve alimony to meet his/her basic needs (sustenance) or to enough to sustain "the lifestyle accustomed to during the civil union or marriage"?^[30]
• Should the income and assets of a new spouse be used in determining how much alimony gets paid?^[10]
• How clear and prescriptive should state statutes be versus allowing a larger degree of Judicial Discretion?^{[10][40][41][42][43]}

In several US states, including Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and New Jersey, some lawmakers are attempting change of divorce laws as they pertain to alimony.^[30] Massachusetts law provides for lifetime alimony, but in early 2009 a reform bill (HB 1785) backed by a group called "Mass Alimony Reform"^[44] gained 72 state representatives as co-sponsors (of a total of 200 Representatives and Senators). HB 1785 would have required a spouse receiving alimony to become self-sufficient after a reasonable time. It would have established alimony as a temporary payment instead of a permanent entitlement.^[45] This law would also have addressed the issue of cohabitation^[20] – where the alimony recipient is living with, but not married to a new significant other.^{[5][8][20][30][46][47]} The Massachusetts bill failed to garner sufficient support and it was not adopted during the 2009–2010 session.^[48] In January 2011, the bill was filed with the Massachusetts legislature. It was passed unanimously by the legislature and signed into law on September 26, 2011.^[49][50] The law takes effect on March 1, 2012, provides for different categories of alimony, and limits the duration of alimony.^[51]

In New Jersey, a group called "New Jersey Alimony Reform" was established in 2011 to encourage and promote similar reforms to alimony reforms within the state.^[52]

In Connecticut, a group called "Connecticut Alimony Reform" was also established in 2011 to encourage and promote similar reforms to alimony reforms within the state of Connecticut.^[53]

In Maine, a "no-fault" divorce state, Statute §951-A provides that for marriages or civil union of between 10 and 20 years, alimony is limited to a period equal to half the length of the marriage.^[21] In Texas, another no-fault state, alimony Section 8.054 limits alimony (in marriages or civil union less than 20 years) to a maximum duration of three years.^{[20][54] [55]}

California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Oklahoma, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia have all passed laws that allow for the modification or termination of alimony upon demonstration that the recipient is cohabitating with another person.^[56] In April 2009, the Governor of New Jersey, Jon Corzine, signed into law changes in the alimony statutes for his state which would bar alimony payments to parents who kill, abuse, or abandon their children.^[57]

Oregon Alimony Reform (OAR) was established in January 2012. The organization was created to foster a more fair and equitable approach to alimony awards and subsequent modification proceedings. OAR expects to have a bill on the floor of the Oregon Senate in the 2013 legislative session. Co-directors are Jennifer Lexa and Robin DesCamp.

Spousal Support (Alimony) in Canada[link]

Types of Spousal Support

In Canada, spousal support may be awarded upon divorce, under the federal Divorce Act, or upon separation without divorce under provincial statutes. There are generally three different forms of spousal support awarded:

1. Compensatory Support – This form of support compensates an individual for their contributions to the relationship as well as for any losses that individual has suffered;
2. Non-Compensatory Support – In some cases support may be awarded on a needs basis. This form of support may be awarded by a Court where an individual is sick or disabled; and
3. Contractual Support – This form of support upholds a contract between the parties which governs support payments.^[58]

Married Spouses and Common-law Spouses

Both married spouses and common-law spouses may be entitled to spousal support. An important distinction between the two is that common-law spouses must start an action claiming spousal support within one year of the breakdown of the relationship. A second important distinction is that only married couples may divorce under the federal Divorce Act, common-law spouses may only separate under provincial legislation, such as Ontario's Family Law Act^[59] or British Columbia's Family Relation's Act.^[60] No such limitation arises for married individuals. In addition to being in a marriage or common-law relationship, courts will look at the conditions, means, needs and other circumstances of each spouse. This includes:

1) The length of time the spouses cohabited; 2) The functions performed by each spouse during the relationship; and 3) Any existing orders or agreements.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of factors which the court will consider when determining entitlement. Each case is determined on its own unique set of circumstances.

Factors for Awarding Spousal Support

The federal Divorce Act at s.15.2 (6) states that there are four objectives of spousal support orders:

1) Recognize any economic advantages or disadvantages to the spouses arising from the marriage or its breakdown; 2) Apportion between the spouses any financial consequences arising from the care of any child of the marriage over and above any obligation for the support of any child of the marriage; 3) Relieve any economic hardship of the spouses arising from the breakdown of the marriage; and 4) In so far as practicable, promote the economic self-sufficiency of each spouse within a reasonable period of time.^[58]

Amount and Duration

The longer the length of cohabitation and the greater the disparity between each party’s incomes, the larger an award of spousal support will be and the longer the duration will be. As stated above, spousal support calculations are complex. There are no tables to use as in child support calculations. Lawyers use special software designed specifically to calculate the entitlement, amount, and duration of support. After information is input into a computer, the software will provide a range for the spousal support amount and duration.

Depending on the means and needs of the individual receiving support, the court will generally award an amount of spousal support somewhere within the range provided by the software. The longer the relationship, the greater the presumption that the parties should have an equal standard of living.

Similarly, the length of the relationship will be taken into account when determining how long spousal support should be paid for. Awards for spousal support can be for a limited term or indefinite.^[61]

While declaring bankruptcy does not dissolve Canadians of obligations to pay alimony or child support, a recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada established that under current laws "equalization payments agreed to as part of a divorce are considered debts, and are wiped off a person's balance sheet when they declare bankruptcy." ^[62]

See also[link]

Law portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Alimony

• Child support
• Coverture
• Divorce
• Divorce under Sharia Law
• Men's rights
• Palimony - term from litigation involving Lee Marvin
• Prenuptial agreement
• Shah Bano case (divorce case in India, concerning Muslim wife and alimony)
• Suffrage
• Women's rights

References[link]

Anderson Cooper
Cooper at Wolfson Children's Hospital October 20, 2007
Born	Anderson Hays Cooper (1967-06-03) June 3, 1967 (age 45) New York City, New York, United States
Education	Yale University (BA)
Occupation	Broadcast journalist Author Talk show host Game show host
Years active	1990–present
Notable credit(s)	World News Now co-anchor (1999–2000) American Morning anchor (2002) Anderson Cooper 360° anchor (2003–present) Anderson host (2011–present)
Relatives	Gloria Vanderbilt (mother) Wyatt Emory Cooper (father)

Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is an American journalist, author, and television personality. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360°. The program is normally broadcast live from a New York City studio; however, Cooper often broadcasts live on location for breaking news stories. As of September 2011, he also serves as host of his own eponymous syndicated daytime talk show, Anderson.

Early life[link]

Anderson Hays Cooper was born on June 3, 1967,^[1] the younger son of the writer Wyatt Emory Cooper and the artist, designer, writer, and heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, and is a great-great-great-grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt of the prominent Vanderbilt shipping and railroad fortune.^[2] Cooper's media experience began early. As a baby, he was photographed by Diane Arbus for Harper's Bazaar.^[3][4] He is also a descendant, through his mother, of Brevet Major General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick who was with Union General William T. Sherman in his March through Georgia.

At the age of 3 Cooper was a guest on The Tonight Show on September 17, 1970, appearing with his mother.^[5] At the age of 9, he appeared on To Tell the Truth as an impostor.^[6] From age 10 to 13 Cooper modeled with Ford Models for Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Macy's.^[7]

Cooper's father suffered a series of heart attacks while undergoing open-heart surgery, and died January 5, 1978, at the age of 50. Cooper considers his father's book Families to be "sort of a guide on...how he would have wanted me to live my life and the choices he would have wanted me to make. And so I feel very connected to him."^[7]

Cooper's older brother, Carter Vanderbilt Cooper, committed suicide on July 22, 1988, at age 23, by jumping from the 14th-floor terrace of Vanderbilt's New York City penthouse apartment. Gloria Vanderbilt later wrote about her son's death in the book A Mother's Story, in which she expresses her belief that the suicide was caused by a psychotic episode induced by an allergy to the anti-asthma prescription drug salbutamol. Anderson cites Carter's suicide for sparking his interest in journalism. "Loss is a theme that I think a lot about, and it’s something in my work that I dwell on. I think when you experience any kind of loss, especially the kind I did, you have questions about survival: Why do some people thrive in situations that others can’t tolerate? Would I be able to survive and get on in the world on my own?"^[7]

Education[link]

Cooper was educated at the Dalton School, a co-educational independent school in New York City. During the second semester of his senior year at the School at the age of 17, Cooper went to southern Africa in a "13-ton British Army truck" during which time he contracted malaria and required hospitalization in Kenya. Describing the experience, Cooper wrote "Africa was a place to forget and be forgotten in."^[7][8] Cooper graduated from the Dalton School in 1985. He went on to attend Yale University, where he resided in Trumbull College, and claimed membership in the Manuscript Society. He majored in political science and graduated in 1989.^[9]

Life and career[link]

During college, Cooper spent two summers as an intern at the Central Intelligence Agency. Although he technically has no formal journalistic education, he opted to pursue a career in journalism rather than stay with the agency after school,^[10] having been a self-proclaimed "news junkie" since he was "in utero."^[11] After his first correspondence work in the early 1990s, he took a break from reporting and lived in Vietnam for a year, during which time he studied the Vietnamese language at the University of Hanoi.^[12]

Career history[link]

Channel One[link]

Anderson Cooper at Qualcomm Stadium during the California wildfires of October 2007

After Cooper graduated from Yale University, he tried to gain entry-level employment with ABC answering telephones, but was unsuccessful. Finding it hard to get his foot in the door of on-air reporting, Cooper decided to enlist the help of a friend in making a fake press pass. At the time, Cooper was working as a fact checker for the small news agency Channel One, which produces a youth-oriented news program that is broadcast to many junior high and high schools in the United States.^[13] Cooper then entered Myanmar on his own with his forged press pass and met with students fighting the Burmese government.^[11] He was ultimately able to sell his home-made news segments to Channel One.

After reporting from Burma, Cooper lived in Vietnam for a year to study the Vietnamese language at the University of Hanoi. Persuading Channel One to allow him to bring a Hi-8 camera with him, Anderson soon began filming and assembling reports of Vietnamese life and culture that aired on Channel One. He later returned to filming stories from a variety of war-torn regions around the globe, including Somalia, Bosnia, and Rwanda.

On assignment for several years Cooper had very slowly become desensitized to the violence he was witnessing around him; the horrors of the Rwandan Genocide became trivial: "I would see a dozen bodies and think, you know, it's a dozen, it's not so bad."^[8] One particular incident, however, snapped him out of it:

On the side of the road [Cooper] came across five bodies that had been in the sun for several days. The skin of a woman's hand was peeling off like a glove. Revealing macabre fascination, Cooper whipped out his disposable camera and took a closeup photograph for his personal album. As he did, someone took a photo of him. Later that person showed Cooper the photo, saying, "You need to take a look at what you were doing." "And that's when I realized I've got to stop, [...] I've got to report on some state fairs or a beauty pageant or something, to just, like, remind myself of some perspective."^[8]

ABC[link]

In 1995, Cooper became a correspondent for ABC News, eventually rising to the position of co-anchor on its overnight World News Now program on September 21, 1999. In 2000 he switched career paths, taking a job as the host of ABC's reality show The Mole.

My last year at ABC, I was working overnights anchoring this newscast, then during the day at 20/20. So I was sleeping in two- or four-hour shifts, and I was really tired and wanted a change. I wanted to clear my head and get out of news a little bit, and I was interested in reality TV — and it was interesting.^[11]

Cooper was also a fill-in co-host for Regis Philbin for the TV talk show Live with Regis and Kelly in 2007 when Philbin underwent triple-bypass heart surgery.^[14]

CNN[link]

Cooper left The Mole after its second season to return to broadcast news in 2001 at CNN, commenting, "Two seasons was enough, and 9/11 happened, and I thought I needed to be getting back to news."^[11] His first position at CNN was to anchor alongside Paula Zahn on American Morning. In 2002 he became CNN's weekend prime-time anchor. Since 2002, he has hosted CNN's New Year's Eve special from Times Square. On September 8, 2003, he was made anchor of Anderson Cooper 360°.

Describing his philosophy as an anchor, Cooper has said:

I think the notion of traditional anchor is fading away, the all-knowing, all-seeing person who speaks from on high. I don't think the audience really buys that anymore. As a viewer, I know I don't buy it. I think you have to be yourself, and you have to be real and you have to admit what you don't know, and talk about what you do know, and talk about what you don't know as long as you say you don't know it. I tend to relate more to people on television who are just themselves, for good or for bad, than I do to someone who I believe is putting on some sort of persona. The anchorman on The Simpsons is a reasonable facsimile of some anchors who have that problem.^[11]

Cooper covered a number of important stories in 2005, including the tsunami damage in Sri Lanka; the Cedar Revolution in Beirut, Lebanon; the death of Pope John Paul II; and the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.

Cooper marching on January 11, 2007, in New Orleans against violence

During CNN coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he confronted Sen. Mary Landrieu, Sen. Trent Lott, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson about their perception of the government response. As Cooper said later in an interview with New York magazine, “Yeah, I would prefer not to be emotional and I would prefer not to get upset, but it’s hard not to when you’re surrounded by brave people who are suffering and in need.”^[7] As Broadcasting & Cable magazine noted, "In its aftermath, Hurricane Katrina served to usher in a new breed of emo-journalism, skyrocketing CNN's Anderson Cooper to superstardom as CNN's golden boy and a darling of the media circles because of his impassioned coverage of the storm."^[15]

In August 2005, he covered the Niger famine from Maradi. In September 2005 the format of CNN's NewsNight was changed from 60 to 120 minutes to cover the unusually violent hurricane season. To help distribute some of the increased workload, Cooper was temporarily added as co-anchor to Aaron Brown. This arrangement was reported to have been made permanent the same month by the president of CNN's U.S. operations, Jonathan Klein, who has called Cooper "the anchorperson of the future."^[16] Following the addition of Cooper, the ratings for NewsNight increased significantly; Klein remarked that "[Cooper's] name has been on the tip of everyone's tongue."^[17] To further capitalize on this, Klein announced a major programming shakeup on November 2, 2005. Cooper's 360° program would be expanded to 2 hours and shifted into the 10 p.m. ET slot formerly held by NewsNight, with the third hour of Wolf Blitzer's The Situation Room filling in Cooper's former 7 p.m. ET slot. With "no options" left for him to host shows, Aaron Brown left CNN, ostensibly having "mutually agreed" with Jonathan Klein on the matter.^[18] In early 2007 Cooper signed a multi-year deal with CNN, which would allow him to continue as a contributor to 60 Minutes as well as doubling his salary from $2 million annually to a reported $4 million.^[19]

In October 2007 Cooper began hosting the documentary Planet in Peril, with Sanjay Gupta and Jeff Corwin on CNN. In 2008 he, Gupta, and Lisa Ling from National Geographic Explorer teamed up for a sequel, "Planet in Peril: Battle Lines," which premiered in December 2008. In 2007 he also began hosting CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute, a show which honors and recognizes extraordinary deeds by ordinary people.

Syndicated talk show[link]

Warner Bros. and Telepictures (both corporate siblings of CNN) announced in September 2010 that Cooper had signed an agreement to host a nationally syndicated talk show. The New York Times' Brian Stelter reported on Twitter that the new Warner Bros. daytime talk show would be named Anderson.^[20] The show premiered on September 12, 2011,^[21] and, as part of negotiations over the talk show deal, Cooper signed a new multi-year contract with CNN to continue as the host of Anderson Cooper 360°.^[22][23]

CBS[link]

Cooper has been a correspondent for the CBS News program 60 Minutes since 2007 while concurrently serving as a CNN correspondent.

Broadway[link]

Cooper can be heard as the voice of the narrator for the 2011 Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, directed by Rob Ashford and starring Daniel Radcliffe.^[24]

Writings[link]

A freelance writer, Cooper has authored a variety of articles that have appeared in many other outlets, including Details magazine.^[25]

In May 2006, Cooper published a memoir for HarperCollins, Dispatches from the Edge, detailing his life and work in Sri Lanka, Africa, Iraq and Louisiana over the previous year. Some of the book's proceeds are donated to charity.^[26] The book topped the New York Times bestseller list on June 18, 2006.^[27]

Personal life[link]

Cooper has two older half-brothers, Leopold Stanislaus "Stan" Stokowski (born 1950), and Christopher Stokowski (born 1952), from Gloria Vanderbilt's ten-year marriage to the conductor Leopold Stokowski.^[28]

He lives in his home in Westhampton Beach on Long Island ^[29] and a penthouse duplex on New York City's 38th Street.^[30]

The Fire Patrol building prior to his purchase

In September 2009 Cooper bought a firehouse in Greenwich Village.^[30]

He said to Oprah Winfrey – while promoting his book – that he had suffered from dyslexia as a child.^[31] In August 2007 he confirmed his "mild dyslexia" on The Tonight Show to Jay Leno, who also has dyslexia.

Cooper has never married and has actively avoided discussing his private life, citing a desire to protect his neutrality as a journalist. His public reticence deliberately contrasts with his mother's life spent in the spotlight of tabloid journalists and her publication of memoirs explicitly detailing her affairs with celebrities. Cooper vowed "not to repeat that strategy." ^[32][33][34] Independent news media have reported that Cooper is gay,^[35] and in May 2007, Out magazine ranked him second behind David Geffen in its list of the fifty "Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America."^[36] When asked about his sexuality, he stated, "I understand why people might be interested. But I just don’t talk about my personal life. It’s a decision I made a long time ago, before I ever even knew anyone would be interested in my personal life. The whole thing about being a reporter is that you're supposed to be an observer and to be able to adapt with any group you’re in, and I don’t want to do anything that threatens that."^[7] He has, however, discussed his desire to have a family and children.^[8]

Awards[link]

Year of award unknown

• Silver Plaque from the Chicago International Film Festival for his report from Sarajevo on the Bosnian War^[37][50]
• Bronze Award from the National Education Film and Video Festival for a report on political Islam^[37][50]

Career timeline[link]

• 1999–2000: World News Now co-anchor^[51]
• 2001–2002: The Mole host^[51]
• 2003–present: Anderson Cooper 360° anchor^[51]
• 2005: NewsNight co-anchor^[51]
• 2007–present: 60 Minutes correspondent^[51]
• 2011–present: Anderson

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anderson Cooper

• Anderson Cooper 360° Blog
• CNN: Anchors & Reporters: Anderson Cooper (profile)
• Anderson Cooper on Twitter
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Anderson Cooper on Charlie Rose
• Anderson Cooper at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Anderson Cooper in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Anderson Cooper collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Anderson Cooper: The Silver Fox - slideshow by Life magazine