Anderson Cooper is opening up about his decision to ask his ex Benjamin Maisani to co-parent his son, Wyatt, saying that he wished he had had a similar figure in his life while growing up.
“I don’t really have a family. And so my friends become my family,” the CNN anchor explained on The Howard Stern Show on Tuesday. “When I was a little kid, it was just my mom and my brother, but it was my mom, and she was not the most parental person. And I wish some adult, after my dad died, had stepped in and just been like, ‘You know what, I’ll take you to a ballgame’ or ‘let’s go out to lunch every now and then and let’s just talk.’ No one ever did that.”
The 52-year-old, who announced the birth of his son via surrogate in late April, went on to say that although he and Maisani didn’t work out as a couple, Cooper still wanted him to play a fatherly role in Wyatt’s life.
“This is somebody I was involved with for 10 years, he’s a great guy,” Cooper said. “I think it’s good to have two parents if you can.”
As for how Wyatt will refer to the two, Cooper said that he’ll be “Dad” or “Daddy” while Maisani will be called “Papa.” The French nightclub owner will also be speaking his native language to the little boy.
“He’s already speaking French to him. I have no idea what he’s saying, he could be turning the kid against me, I don’t know,” Cooper joked. Ultimately, he said, “If more people love my son and are in his life, I’m all for that.”
