Matt Lauer continues his descent into self-perpetuated villainy at the hands of the “Today” audience for his (allegedly prominent) role in the ousting of Ann Curry. Do you think Ann has her popcorn readied for all of the recent developments in this mess? I hope she does. Most recently, Matt appealed to the Daily Beast about how “Today” is “a family,” and it wasn’t his fault that Ann had to leave the show. CB further reported that Matt’s contract is about to expire, and that Willie Geist is the leading contender to replace him. But Matt isn’t done trying to change the general public’s mind on this matter, and now he’s got a new cover story with NY Mag that spans eight pages yet has nothing new except for more whining from Matt about how he feels so misunderstood. What’s next? Deadline says that someone new — Anderson Cooper — has been approached to replace Matt. Everyone dislikes Matt, and everyone loves the Coop. Let’s do this:

Embattled Today anchor Matt Lauer, already the focus of blistering criticism for the ouster of co-anchor Ann Curry and the ratings slide at NBC‘s morning show, has long been rumored to be on the chopping block – despite his $25 million contract and recent efforts aimed at rehabilitating his image. Here’s the latest wrinkle: I hear NBC toppers recently reached out to CNN’s Anderson Cooper to replace Lauer on the show before the end of the year. After their initial approach to Cooper, I hear NBC reached out to Lauer to get his blessing about the changeover. But I heard they got pushback from the Today veteran, who contacted Cooper to express his disapproval. I also hear that call caught Cooper by surprise, as he had assumed Lauer had been brought on board before NBC began making overtures. Cooper has been one of the leading faces at CNN, though I hear his contract has an out, and he previously was able to do his syndicated daytime talk show in addition to his CNN program.

Cooper’s is just the latest name to be rumored to replace Lauer, who inked a long-term contract last year. Ryan Seacrest, current Today co-host Willie Geist and Meet The Press host David Gregory have all been reportedly considered by NBC. Lauer, meanwhile, has been tied to rumors (along with Cooper, Brian Williams and Dan Patrick) to take over for Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek when the longtime game show host decides to retire.

[From Deadline]

Indeed, the buzz over what Matt Lauer will do when (not if) he ends up leaving “Today” is that he’ll take over hosting “Jeopardy!” Who knows when this will happen, but I think it’s a good fit because no one really cares about the personality of a trivia game host, and Matt would essentially be working alone on the show as far as being “in charge” goes. No co-hosts, just contestants, and the program probably shoots a week’s worth of episodes at a time like most game shows tend to do. That would free up a lot of time for Matt to attend to other duties, which will probably include a memoir (that no one will buy) about how everyone hates him.

Enough about Matt Lauer though … how about this silver fox for a “Today” show co-anchor?

Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News and WENN

Here are some photos from Saturday night’s GLAAD Media Awards. Mama June (from Here Comes Honey Boo Boo) was there! Here Comes Honey Boo Boo was nominated for a GLAAD award because the family is incredibly pro-gay. Mama June’s brother (I think?) is gay and both Mama June and Honey Boo Boo Chile have made a number of pro-gay rights and pro-tolerance statements. Considering they live in the heart of Georgia, it’s a big deal! So it’s cool that Mama June came out and celebrated with her gay fans. She wore this tiered black dress which is… not good. But she’s showing off her weight loss, which is impressive.

Madonna was there to present an award to Anderson Cooper. Madge wore this Boy-Scout-esque costume. I guess it’s supposed to be about the Boy Scouts deciding whether or not to allow gay leaders and members, maybe?

And here’s Anderson, looking hot.

I don’t want to startle anyone, but this is what Dan Stevens (Cousin Matthew on Downton Abbey) looks like now. He lost weight and dyed his hair brown. And gained a dirt-lip. I’m sure it’s for a role or something, but he looks so gross.

Snooki and J-Woww look terrible. What happened to Snooki, for the love of God? Weight loss and new veneers?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I have some minor celebrity obsessions. I love when celebrities talk about their little OCD oddities, and I love when celebrities talk about the specifics of their own maintenance. Like, I thought one of the most interesting posts I ever wrote about Lady Gaga was the time when she talked about how she never washes her face before she goes to bed, and she sleeps in her makeup. Like, that was a really gross example, but I find that kind of stuff incredibly interesting. I want to know who only washes their hair once a week and who slathers their body in La Mer.

So, with that in mind, here’s a gross story from Anderson Cooper. He told Stacy London (of that What Not to Wear show, which I hate because she gives such horrible style advice to “bigger” girls) that he only really wears one pair of jeans and he only washes that pair a few times a year. Except for the times he walks into the shower wearing the jeans and then just lets them “air dry”. This is weird, right?

Anderson Cooper takes extreme measures to ensure his jeans look pristine. While speaking to fashion consultant Stacy London on Anderson Live Dec. 6, the 45-year-old TV host admitted his wardrobe doesn’t have much variety. “In my real life, I wear a T-shirt, gray or white, and the same pair of jeans,” Cooper said. “Literally, the same pair of jeans every day.”

He added, “They have these jeans you don’t have to wash now — or so they say. It’s true!”

London, 43, seemed skeptical. “I went to this store APC which has really nice stuff,” Cooper explained. “And you buy these things and the person said to me, ‘Don’t wash them for a long time.’ They mean like six months, I think.”

The What Not to Wear co-host argued that “six months is probably a little long” between washes, but to maintain “the integrity of your denim, you should wash it in cold water — no soap — and air dry it.”

Cooper admitted he’s washed his jeans “maybe twice in six months.”

“The times I’ve done it, I’ve worn them and walked into my shower with them and put some soap on them and then air dried them,” he continued. “Isn’t that how you are supposed to do it?”

When London advised him not to use soap, Cooper seemed confused. “That’s not really washing them off, so why even bother?”

[From Us Weekly]

His confusion confuses me. WTF? I’m sure there are some well-made jeans where the care-and-handling advice is “don’t wash these all the time.” I can go for a while without washing my two favorite pairs of jeans too, but not “six months without washing.” Like, I can go a month or two, especially when I’m not wearing the jeans on regular rotation. But these are jeans Anderson is wearing – he admits – daily. Those jeans must be disgusting! And then he walks into the shower and puts soap on them and lets them air dry? Why not just take ‘em to the backyard and hose them off like a car? Anderson Cooper, why are you so weird?

Here are some pics from the CNN Heroes event a few days ago. Coop looked good. But now I can’t get it out of my head that his clothes are kind of gross.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Right after I published our earlier story on Ben Affleck’s profile in The Hollywood Reporter, this new story with a lot of quotes from Anderson Cooper’s show was emailed to us. Affleck appears on Anderson Live tomorrow, October 12, along with his co-stars, Bryan Cranston and John Goodman. I’ve said it plenty of times: I love Ben Affleck. He’s smart, he’s hot, and he’s talented, but given what we’ve heard from him lately I doubt that he’s the best husband, you know? He just doesn’t seem as excited about his wife as he does about the other women he name drops. I hope I’m wrong, I hope his quotes are being taken out of context or that he’s just having an off day, but that’s the impression I’m getting. Some of you have floated the “douche” label for Ben, and I don’t think it applies – yet. Again I’m biased.

There were rumors that Ben Affleck cheated on Jennifer Garner with Blake Lively while they were filming The Town together. People pointed to these photos and to the interview they did together in which Ben seemed to be fawning all over her. I don’t think Ben was stupid enough to cheat, but I think he did have some sort of emotional affair with Blake that involved baked goods and flirtation disguised as deep thoughts. So that’s why his comments about her on Anderson Cooper are giving me pause. He didn’t gush about his damn wife like this, he just told the Hollywood Reporter that she helped him change his life and that Jen was super nice but that it could be annoying. Get it together Ben! Also, Ben has told this same freaking story multiple times about how Blake allegedly didn’t know that he was best friends with Matt Damon. (To be fair, Anderson asked Ben a direct question about it, but still you can tell he loves talking about her.) Many of you have stipulated that Blake was playing dumb, and that of course she knew about Ben and Matt’s history. I believe you. Ben fell for it. Stupid!

On turning 40
I do like it. I kind of feel like I got to a point. I went through a certain amount of period with people giving me a hard time and oh we don’t have to sort of take this guy seriously. Forty kind of coincided with having three kids and having this marriage that is great and working in ways that I am really proud of and doing philanthropy that I really like. You know, you are forty, no one gets to call you a kid anymore.

On how Blake didn’t know about his long friendship with Matt Damon (Anderson asked him about it)
Blake, yes is not forty. Blake is twenty one or whatever she is twenty two. She is fabulous as you can see, she’s a gorgeous young woman. She was in the Town with me and she was fabulous. She wanted to do research and she was coming off her television show, Gossip Girl, so she was driving down at nights back and forth and really stretching it to get her research done. And I was driving around the city here’s the neighborhood, here’s the people she hung up with – the various people who were in these projects and stuff. And then I just drove around to see the sights, John Quincy Adams home, that kind of thing and we went by one and I said, ‘That’s the house Matt grew up in.’ And she’s like, ‘Matt who?’ And I was like, ‘Matt Damon grew up there.’ And she’s like, ‘How do you know Jason Bourne?’ And my life flashed before my eyes. I was like, ‘Oh we did a movie together, Good Will Hunting.’

On achieving success earlier in life
It’s a lot to figure out early on. It’s a lot to figure out. Even Jeremy Renner who is a young actor, who was forty when he did The Town, and then he got nominated and then he started doing all these franchise movies he just is able to take it in much better than I could and see the perspective much better. I see guys who have lived a full life and come to terms with whatever they needed to come to terms and then become successful. I think you are much more stable and capable of taking it on.

[From Anderson Live]

I don’t like saying lady boner, but there’s no other way to explain it – my lady boner for Ben is going away. It’s like at half mast. (Ew! I’m too girly for that metaphor.) I don’t like it when he talks about “this marriage working” like it’s some kind of business entity and then calls another woman “fabulous” and “gorgeous.” Also, how can he praise Blake doing research for the film on one hand and then find it so endearing that she doesn’t know about his history with Matt Damon? Everyone knows that damn story. I sense trouble, but maybe I’m reading way too much into things. Or maybe Ben is just too damn honest and not that good at hiding his feelings in interviews.

Anderson Cooper has clips from the show available if you’re interested. Here’s a video where Ben talks about sideswiping a car and leaving a note about it. Around 1:40 into this video you can hear him say the part about turning 40 and “having this marriage that is great.” In this video, he talks about being a father. I also caught another quote from him in that segment in which he praises Garner. He said she’s “a saint and does so much of the work [raising their three kids] because I’m inept and she’s a genius.” So that’s nice!

Here’s Ben’s comments on Blake:

Here are some cute photos from Anderson Cooper, thanks to the show. Oh and Popsugar has some nice photos of Ben and Jennifer out at the DC premiere of Argo.

I’m starting to believe that Kelsey Grammer is obsessed with his ex-wife, Camille. That would explain why he talks about her in every single interview and continues to go over the details of their split over two and a half years ago. The guy needs to move on, but he’s harping on it for whatever reason: a psychological need, an urge for publicity or maybe an annoying combination of both.

Anyway Kelsey was a guest on The Anderson Cooper show recently and his full interview airs today. He got talking about his favorite subject, Camille, and instead of apologizing to Camille for making her go to the Tony Awards with him before he broke up with her unceremoniously, after his mistress had been living with him for several months, he made it sound like he was doing her a favor. He did admit he made a mistake, but he never said Camille’s name and he apologized to his mistress more than to Camille. Here are some details from the interview:

Anderson: I’ve got to ask you one question and I don’t want to dwell on this but I was a big Real Housewives watcher. Did you ever regret any of those scenes you were in? Because some of them were very awkward like when Camille went and visited you backstage there was this really awkward scene and I felt for you in that scene. I wondered if that was one of those things, you know what I regret the cameras being there.
Kelsey: Yeah, yeah. Oh sure. Well thanks. I was trying to pretend things were normal for the sake of letting her have that moment for the sake of somehow letting her have that moment. It was just ill advised. It was the wrong decision and I should have come home from England when I first met Kayte and just said, ‘Listen I’ve met somebody and this hasn’t been working for a long time.’ I regret not doing that. I thought I could do something nice, some parting thing and so it was very painful and uncomfortable. It was uncomfortable for Kayte, it was uncomfortable for all of us.

Anderson: Is there anything you’ve done in your life that you now look back on and regret? That was one of the Twitter questions.
Kelsey: Ooh, boy. There is a ton of things actually that I do regret but I can’t spend my life apologizing. There are several things I regret. I regret that I didn’t spend more time with my daughter Greer. I regret that I didn’t tell Kayte I love her as often as I should but I’m still working on it so it’s okay. We make mistakes in life hopefully with people that know how to forgive. There is an old Chekhov saying, since we are forgiven it’s foolish if you can not forgive.

[Received via e-mail from The Anderson Cooper show]

Kelsey bugs me so much with his excuses and justifications, but at least he knows on some level that what he did was wrong. He’ll probably never grasp what a total a-hole he was, since he continues to be one.

The Anderson Cooper show sent us more details from Kelsey’s interview, and there’s a real gem when he discusses the tattoo of his new wife’s name, Kayte, he got on his hip. He admitted it was Kayte’s idea (which he’s said before) but as for whether Kayte would ever get Kelsey’s name tattooed on her body, Kelsey only said “she’s thinking about it now,” and that “she wants to a white one that’s sort of clear, very subtle.” Do you think this golddigger has a whole game plan worked out and that she’s going to dump Kelsey in a couple of years? I do, at least I’m hoping.

Update: Camille has responded to this, and to the many other recent interviews Kelsey has done about her. She’s shown at lot of restraint in my opinion. She told Radar:

“Kelsey and I shared a life together and have two beautiful children together, and I just wish he would stop the constant barrage of negativity towards me as it’s bad for our children and our respective families. I would hope that Kelsey would say something positive about our life together, so we can be amicable. I have absolutely no ill will towards Kelsey, I keep focused on what is ahead and I don’t look back. I have happy memories about my time with Kelsey, yes, there were sad times, but I focus on the positive times for the sake of our children. I’m just not a negative person.”

Kelsey is shown in January, July and August. Credit: WENN.com and FameFlynet

Anderson and Ben in 2010

I’m still really interested in Anderson Cooper’s lovelife for some reason, and now that we have confirmation that his boyfriend, Ben Maisani, was on the trip to Croatia with him (also attended by Andy Cohen and a few other friends), I’m revising my theory as to how everything went down. As you might remember, we saw some very close-up photos of Ben making out with another guy in the park a little over a week ago. Those photos came out when Anderson was on vacation in Croatia, reportedly with Ben. Later, Anderson posted a photo of Bravo exec and his longtime friend, Andy Cohen, in Croatia, making me wonder if it was Andy who went along on that vacation, not Ben, and if Anderson and Ben had broken up prior to the release of the makeout photos. Not so much. There’s video of Anderson and Ben together in Croatia, and the paparazzi have photos, taken Monday, of both Ben and Anderson leaving the place in New York they share. (You can see those photos on this link.) So they’re either still together as a couple, or they’re at least still living together for now, maybe until one of them can find another place. That’s pretty forgiving of Anderson, or maybe he was broken up with Ben before the trip and they just decided to move forward with their plans or something. Damn, I know we’re never going to get answers on this and it bugs me. I want to know what happened! I mean I adore Anderson Cooper and I know I should have more respect for his privacy, but I’m a nosy bitch. Here’s The Daily Mail’s report:

Anderson Cooper and his partner Ben Maisani were pictured in New York today, both leaving the CNN anchor’s Manhattan townhouse, albeit separately.
Maisani was photographed kissing another man in a public park less than two weeks ago, and the pair were believed to have broken up.

The pictures, accompanied with a video of them on vacation together in Croatia at the weekend, have sparked rumors the couple have reconciled – and perhaps never even broke up.
Cooper was alleged to have gone on the European getaway to get over his broken heart after news of his partner’s alleged cheating emerged.

But it appears the news anchor is the forgiving type. Either that or the video adds more fuel to the fire that the couple are in an open relationship.

The video – shot by Croatian network Dubrovnik Internet Television – shows the two men on the upper deck of the yacht chatting together, before joining Kelly Ripa and her husband Mark Consuelos.
Ripa and her husband joined in on the European destination last week. Bravo’s Andy Cohen was already there and is believed to have flown out with Cooper a few days earlier.

Maisani and Cooper were also spotted earlier today leaving the Manhattan fire house the pair share. It had been reported that the news anchor asked his partner to move out and had broken off the engagement after the cheating scandal.

[From Daily Mail]

We’re not going to figure out at this point if Anderson and Ben are still together, and it sounds like whatever happened, they’re keeping the drama low and are either trying to work things out or peacefully co-existing. Maybe they have an open relationship, although reports claimed Cooper was devastated by those photos. I’m still holding out hope that Anderson and Andy Cohen are a new couple.

As The Daily Mail mentions, Kelly Ripa was also in Croatia on that vacation. An instagram pic that Anderson posted of them together is below. There’s a lot of speculation that Anderson might join Kelly as co-host on her morning show, and Kelly told US Weekly that “We have a connection like nobody else. I worship him!” She added that “the search continues” for her co-host, since Anderson is so busy with his own talkshow and with his CNN show, Anderson Cooper 360.

Photo credit: WENN, FameFlynet and Pacific Coast News

Anderson instagrammed the above pic with the caption “Look who just took the same Instagram pic as me.”

Yesterday we heard that Anderson Cooper was on vacation in Croatia with his boyfriend when he was confronted with those awful photos of his boyfriend making out with another guy in public. It would have made for an awkward vacation if that was the case – or was it? Cooper recently posted a photo on Instagram of Bravo VP and “Watch What Happens Live” host, Andy Cohen, along with the caption “Look who just took the same Instagram pic as me.” (That picture is above.) That same Instagram pic he’s referring to was a sunset in Croatia, judging by their recent Instagram photos, taken at the same time. (Note: I installed Instagram on my iPad for this story and am not a fan. Why do they limit you to an iPod/iPhone size app and why can’t you use it to see photos on a PC? Update: thanks to Mimi for pointing me to Webstagram. You still need to sign up for Instagram through the app though.)

So this means that Andy and Anderson are on vacation together, and that they might be a new couple! Granted some people are saying that they’ve been friends for years, and that they’re with a group of friends, but I want to believe they’re together. People have been rooting for them to hook up for some time. We’ve heard that Anderson and Andy are friends, and last year The Enquirer ran a story that Andy was hoping to date Anderson, even though Anderson was in a long term relationship.

Maybe those photos of Anderson’s (ex?) boyfriend, Ben Maisani, making out with another guy were staged to send a message that Ben wasn’t the one Anderson was referring to when he wrote that he was gay and that “I love, and I am loved.” Maybe Anderson was in a new relationship with someone who encouraged him to come out of the closet. Maybe Anderson dumped Ben for Andy, and Ben was pissed and wanted to get back at him, prompting Anderson to post that photo of Andy. Whatever went on, it doesn’t look like it’s as cut and dried as we thought.

I’m thinking that In Touch got it wrong and that Anderson wasn’t on vacation with Ben, he was on vacation with Andy. (Andy instagrammed a photo of himself on the water three days ago, so he’s probably been there the whole time.) Yay! I really hope they’re together. I don’t know much about this Ben guy, but he owns a gay bar. I can’t help but think he’s not worthy, you know?

Thanks to Gawker for the lead for this story!

I found these photos on one of those Instagram collection sites. I think they’re from last year, as the Enquirer ran one of them in their story around that time.

Update: Clearer version of Andy’s photo – so cute!

Yesterday we saw photos of Anderson Cooper’s boyfriend making out with another guy. There was no mistaking what was going on, and it wasn’t a too-friendly moment between friends taken out of context. The photos were so close up and explicit that they were compared to the pictures of Kristen Stewart grinding on her director. Some people even thought that they were staged.

I wrote that I was hoping Anderson and his boyfriend had quietly broken up and we just didn’t know about it because he’s so secretive with his private life. According to Life & Style, not so much. Their sources claim that Anderson and his live-in longterm boyfriend, Ben Maisani, were on vacation on a yacht off the coast of Croatia when Anderson found out. What’s more is that they don’t have an open relationship, and apparently that was the first Anderson was hearing about his boyfriend stepping out on him. Cold! Here’s more:

“Anderson was with Ben in Croatia when he was told about the photos,” a source tells Life & Style. “They were on a yacht. They flew to Croatia on Aug. 11, one day after the photos were taken. Anderson’s upset — who wouldn’t be?”

Anderson, 45, and Ben, 39, who have been together for more than three years, do not have an open relationship, a source close to Ben insists, so the betrayal has hit Anderson hard.

Last month, Anderson, 45, publicly admitted he was gay and happier than ever.

[From Life & Style]

Well I hope Anderson dumps that douche and finds someone worthy. What kind of excuses can you give for getting so thoroughly busted cheating like that? “It was just a one-time thing?,” “We only kissed,” or “It wasn’t serious?” Plus, they were stuck on vacation together! I guess with their kind of money one of them could have changed plans and left on their own afterwards, but I’m envisioning a miserable few days left on vacation after finding out that a partner is cheating on you. It actually happened to a friend of mine, who was on vacation with her girlfriend on a cruise. I’m not kidding! Her girlfriend broke the news to her on the cruise that she’d found someone else, and then proceeded to spend hundreds of dollars calling the other woman. They were stuck in the same room together and it was awful. (I try not to tell stories about my friends, or at least be vague enough that they can’t figure out who I’m talking about, but that was over 10 years ago and I’m pretty sure she won’t mind me gossiping about it.) What a crappy thing for Anderson to have to deal with right after he came out.

The photos of Anderson Cooper’s boyfriend kissing another man are on The Daily Mail’s site. Photo above from 2010.

Dreamboat news anchor Anderson Cooper came out of the closet just last month after years of speculation. He issued a statement to The Daily Beast that was heartfelt, thoughtful, and detailed his reasons for publicly discussing his orientation, and for not being open about it for so long. He said that he was striving for privacy in his personal life so as not to interfere with his professional obligations as a journalist, but that he didn’t want to give the impression that he was hiding anything. Cooper concluded that “I still consider myself a reserved person and I hope this doesn’t mean an end to a small amount of personal space.” He also seemed to suggest that he was coming out in part because he had a long term partner, but he was vague about it, writing “In my opinion, the ability to love another person is one of God’s greatest gifts, and I thank God every day for enabling me to give and share love with the people in my life.”

His statement was touching and gave the impression that Cooper was in a happy committed relationship. Only that might not be the case anymore. New photos have come out of Cooper’s live-in boyfriend, bar owner Ben Maisani, kissing another man. (We don’t have the pictures, you can see them on The Daily Mail’s website.) The two weren’t just kissing hello in a friendly way, they’re sitting down and holding hands too. It looks like they’re making out and honestly my heart kind of sunk seeing those photos. Can you imagine if you saw pictures of your partner like that with someone else? I would freak. Here’s more:

Anderson Cooper’s next set of tough questions could be reserved for his long-term boyfriend Ben Maisani after pictures of him surfaced kissing another man.

Maisani, 39, was spotted in a close embrace with a dark-haired, muscle-bound man in a New York park.

The images may come as a surprise to the CNN news anchor after it was reported last month that he wanted to marry his partner as soon as Labor Day.

The wedding rumor came several weeks after Cooper, 45, spoke publicly about his sexuality for the first time, saying: ”The fact is, I’m gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be more happy.’

There was no hint of upset from Cooper last night who looked typically sharp in a navy suit as he joined other A-listers in New York to watch Beyonce perform at the UN headquarters for World Humanitarian Day.

It is believed that Cooper has been dating Maisani, who owns gay bar Eastern Bloc in Manhattan’s East Village for around three years.

The couple live together at Cooper’s converted fire station townhouse and enjoy a low-key lifestyle, working out and going to dinner with friends including Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick.

They were encouraged to marry last year by Anderson’s mother, designer Gloria Vanderbilt. She reportedly helped the pair patch up their relationship after they struggled with conflicting work schedules.

Cooper agreed to cut back on trips abroad, while Maisani said he would do fewer night shifts at his bar. Vanderbilt, 88, was also reportedly encouraging the men to adopt a child.

[From The Daily Mail]

The story about how Cooper’s mom wanted these two to adopt a child came out last May in the National Enquirer. So whether that was true or not they’re reportedly serious. We know they’ve been together since at least 2009. I only hope that they’ve broken up and that Ben isn’t cheating on Anderson, and he’s not finding out about it through the press. It must have been huge for him to write that e-mail and to come out, and now he has to deal with the very thing he was trying to avoid – press speculation into his personal life. Whatever is going on with his relationship, you know he’s not going to address it.

I just thought of something – maybe this is a case of mistaken identity and that guy isn’t really Ben Maisani. Some of our photo agencies have been doing that lately and mislabeling average people as celebrities. It sure looks like him, but it’s hard to tell.

Photo credit: Pacific Coast News and WENN.com

On Monday, Anderson Cooper “came out” in the one of the best ways I’ve ever seen – he did it in a low-key open post/email to The Daily Beast’s (gay) journalist Andrew Sullivan. Anderson explained himself and his reasons for not publicly acknowledging or verifying his homosexuality before now, and why he made the decision to say something publicly now. His open letter was exceptionally well-written, emotional, cathartic and beautiful. I was really proud of him, truly. I know that’s a weird thing to say about a man I’ve never met, but I just like that Anderson “came out” on his own terms, when he felt the time was right, and in his own way. And for the “right” reasons too. Anyway, Anderson’s sometimes-BFF and official New Year’s Eve Co-Star Kathy Griffin wrote an “open letter” response to Anderson’s coming out party in (where else?) The Daily Beast. You know what? I love Kathy. And I think her essay is also exceptionally well-written, and I like the way she discusses the history of the gay rights movement. Here is her essay in full:

My friend Anderson Cooper is the scion of one of America’s great shipping and railroad families, the Vanderbilts. He’s covered the military coup and eventual unseating of the democratically elected (albeit bat-shit crazy) Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He’s covered the small wars in Africa that use children as slave soldiers. He knows more about the women of The Real Housewives than perhaps even I do. He’s covered the seemingly endless large wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And by “covered,” I mean he’s really gone and covered them—with a security detail and without; embedded with troops and unilaterally—not from the relative safety of the Green Zone in Baghdad or the international zone in Kabul. He’s sat down with despots in countries like Somalia, covered the atrocities in the Balkans and Burma. And he also happens to be gay.

Funny thing, that … Kicking around for as many years as I have, I’ve done countless interviews pushing Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, stand-up comedy specials, live comedy dates, the Kathy show, and everything in between. I’ve talked to everyone from a local gay blogger to Time magazine. I’m not really sure at what point it changed, but the press—or at least the press who covered my little carnival—became fixated on Anderson’s orientation. And for years, I talked around it.

Believe it or not, I don’t “out” people. It is neither my business nor my desire. Remember, folks, I am a comedian, not a journalist. These weren’t questions where I could make a joke about Ryan Seacrest getting a mani/pedi. This isn’t a joke I make about whether Oprah and Gayle are gay lovers. I have no idea if Oprah and Gayle are gay lovers. I doubt they are, but as a comedian, I find some comedy in picturing those two girls running the world as a power couple. Anderson is someone who has led a very specific kind of professional life, who never talked and simultaneously exhibited social contradictions. And quite frankly, he never gave me permission to speak about something that represented the one part of his life he was not comfortable having confirmed in the media. But in my dealings with a certain sector of the press, that simply was never good enough.

So while I’ve tried to protect my friend and represent him the way he would most prefer, I was never exactly clear on just how to do it, how to say it. One year, while in the middle of doing several interviews to promote New Year’s Eve Live on CNN, I had a discussion with Anderson about it. “For Christ’s sake, Anderson, I’ve been getting asked as much about your sexuality as I have about my own show!” I said.

He said: “Kathy, I don’t get asked as much about my sexuality as you get asked about my sexuality. But here’s my standard party line: ‘I want to report the news. I don’t want to be the news.’”

I recently read an article that quoted a gay Army officer friend of mine saying how freeing on so many levels the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy has been, that he and his now legally married husband might someday finally adopt and begin a family. The “ethical nonstarter” of having to teach a child to lie so that she might protect her fathers was no longer even a glancing consideration. Well, there is an unspoken kind of DADT among the press, and Anderson’s party line only revealed part of it.
The reality is that despite the very real, the very necessary, and the very life-changing progress we have made in this country in treating people across the sexual orientation spectrum with dignity and respect, America—the world—is not fully represented by Chelsea in New York City. It’s not fully represented by DuPont Circle in Washington, D.C.; the Castro; or West Hollywood. Hell, it’s not even Ft. Lauderdale and its Wilton Manors or Denver’s Capital Hill neighborhood. America is, in large part, small towns like Oxnard, Calif. It’s Sevierville, Tenn. It’s Laramie, Wyo. And it’s Wichita, Kan., where I was eating recently at a local diner and a patron asked me, “Kathy, how do you deal with so many goddamned f-gs?”

Many of my young gays don’t know about Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” initiative, which was developed with the help of some extremist American evangelicals. Many don’t know about Stonewall or, more recently, the importance of Lawrence v. Texas. They don’t know about Cuba’s jailing of HIV patients or even that Iran has sentenced gay teenagers to death by hanging. They don’t know that in large portions of Baghdad, honest LGBT folks are hunted and summarily executed by roving bands of so-called morality police, who kill with impunity both the “out” and those simply perceived to be gay. What many young people do know is what they read in short bursts on celebrity Twitter posts or on TMZ. And what they read and see is how freeing being honest can be. What they don’t see is that it remains, in many places, very dangerous to do just that. And that dichotomy is deeply troubling to me.

Look, I’m a comedian. Anderson reports on the world’s toughest stories. He speaks truth to power. I, on the other hand, make fun of the spectacularly silly world of reality television and Hollywood’s fame whores (and those who love them). I don’t pretend to understand the complexities of the worlds Anderson moves in. But I do know that I don’t want my friend to face that part of the world, where he might die a very different kind of death than someone who isn’t quite so honest.

Anderson writes: “I’ve begun to consider whether the unintended outcomes of maintaining my privacy outweigh personal and professional principle. It’s become clear to me that by remaining silent on certain aspects of my personal life for so long, I have given some the mistaken impression that I am trying to hide something—something that makes me uncomfortable, ashamed, or even afraid. This is distressing because it is simply not true.”

Here’s the thing: I love my friend Anderson and remain immensely proud of him. And I’m honored, truly, that he considers me a friend. But I just want him to be careful. Of course he wouldn’t be doing his job if he really were being careful. And he wouldn’t be who he is.

[From The Daily Beast]

I think she’s basically saying that she never outed him because she loves him very deeply and she worries that one of these days he’s going to fly into one of these countries and he’ll be killed because people think/know he’s gay. Which is a genuine concern, and it sucks that it’s a genuine concern. Still, I love Kathy for bringing “the real”.

Photos courtesy of WENN.