Anderson Cooper says Andy Cohen broke his 'cardinal rule' of dating after 'two minutes'
Anderson Cooper and Kelly Ripa sat down with Andy Cohen on Wednesday's Watch What Happens Live, where the acclaimed CNN news anchor got pretty candid about his love life -- including his failed romance with Cohen himself.
Well, "romance" might not be the right word. According to Cooper, they pair were once set up on a blind date, but Cooper decided he wasn't interested in Cohen before it even went down.
The topic of their almost-date came up when Cohen, apropos of nothing, reminded Ripa that Cooper's mom is the famous socialite and fashion icon Gloria Vanderbilt, which the Live! host already knew.
"Andy and I were first set up on a blind date, which never happened because we had a phone call and after two minutes I said, 'I'm not dating this guy,'" Cooper recounted. "He broke my cardinal rule... he mentioned my mom within the first four sentences of meeting me."
See photos of Anderson Cooper through the years:
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Cooper also got candid about a few other areas of his sex life, including answering a caller's question about whether or not he'd ever "been with a woman."
"I've gone on a date or two with a woman," Cooper answered, hesitantly.
"That's not answering the question," Ripa pressed.
"I don't think I've done more than kissing a woman, yeah," Cooper clarified.
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The news anchor also weighed in on Billy Bush's termination from the Today Show in October, following the release of the "Trump Tapes," in which the former Access Hollywood star was recording having a misogynistic and sexually vulgar conversation with President-Elect Donald Trump back in 2005.
See photos of Andy Cohen through the years:
"We work in an industry that it's up to viewers who they want to watch," Cooper said when asked if the 45-year-old TV personality was "unfairly penalized" when NBC released him from his contract. "I understand why the show made the decision they did and this is a tough industry. I think Billy Bush understands the industry."
"I'm sure he'll bounce back in one way or another," he added.
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Meanwhile, Ripa dished on how close Live! is to announcing a permanent co-host, sharing, "we really didn't set a time frame for ourselves. We just wanted to wait until we found the right person. What we didn't anticipate was such an outpouring of interest."
"Our list got very long, very quickly, so we've been trying to keep it as narrow as possible," Ripa added. Cooper was once considered a frontrunner for the co-hosting gig before he re-signed with CNN and shot down speculation that he'd join the daytime talk show.
On Tuesday's Watch What Happens Live, another unexpected past celebrity romance was revealed between Matthew Broderick and Kyra Sedgwick, when the pair admitted that they had an on-and-off fling in high school. Check out the video below to hear more.
