Looks like his time hosting The Mole paid off!
Turns out, there's another side of Anderson Cooper's career the world didn't know about. During an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers on Tuesday, Oct. 26, the famed journalist revealed that he moonlighted as his mother Gloria Vanderbilt's social media assistant, prior to her death in 2019.
When the Anderson Cooper 360 host realized that the then 91-year-old—who had been a model, an author and, most famously, a jeans designer— was becoming a bit depressed, he suggested starting an Instagram account to encourage her to get back to working on and selling her art.
Gloria agreed, saying the platform was like "magic" and that's when Anderson got a special assignment.
"I got her on Instagram and made an account for her artwork and she was like ‘Who's going to deal with the customers,'" he said.
"And there wasn't really anyone to deal with the customers and I was like ‘I know what you're doing. I'll do it.'"
That's when Gloria had the perfect idea that would keep her famous son's identity under wraps.
"So, my mom was like 'Well, you should invent a character you can't do it as yourself,'" Anderson added.
"She was like 'Okay why don't we invent a lady of a certain age named Monica, who's a longtime trusted assistant and you be Monica. You answer the DMs on Instagram to buy my artwork.'"
Anderson couldn't say no to his mom, so he gladly accepted the position. "And that's what I did for 3 years. Literally I'd be in Baghdad and in between things and I would be like ‘Would you like a laminated white frame?''
"And people would be like ‘What is it like working for Ms. Vanderbilt?'" and I would go, "She's amazing."
Looks like Anderson's time hosting The Mole had the perfect pay off!
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