Anderson Cooper on Coming Out: “I Kind of Struggled in My Teen Years and College…”

Anderson Cooper answered viewer questions on a recent episode of CNN’s Full Circle.

Of his personal coming out process, he said:

“I was probably seven when I realized… I’m not sure I knew the word gay at the time, but I realized something was up, that something that was different.

“So [I realized it when I was] probably six or seven, and I told some friends in high school. I think I truly embraced it, and came around to really loving the fact that I was gay, right after college.”

“I kind of struggled even in my teenage years and a little in college,” he said.

“The things I wanted to do at the time, you couldn’t be gay. I was interested in joining the military, but you can’t be gay and join the military.

“I felt like there were a lot of places that I was limited in traveling to for safety reasons. I just felt like there were a lot of limitations on it, and it wasn’t what I envisioned for my life.

“I imagined a family and getting married, and all those things which weren’t possible at the time, so it took me a while to kind of fully embrace it.”

But life in the closet had its limitations.

“At a certain point, about a year after college, I realized… I don’t want to waste any more time worrying about this, and wishing I was some other way, and I want to embrace who I am.

“As I’ve said before, I think being gay is one of the great blessings in my life, and it’s made me a better person and it’s made me a better reporter.

“When you feel growing up like you’re on the outside of things, and you’re kind of an observer to things and not necessarily in the mainstream, you see society from a slightly different view, and I think that can be very valuable.