Inside Andy Cohen's fabulous life: How a boy from St. Louis became a king of New York media (2024)

Advertisem*nt

Andrew Joseph Cohen was born in St. Louis, Missouri on June 2, 1968.

He attended Missouri's Clayton High School before going to Boston University, where he studied broadcast journalism in the school's College of Communication and graduated in 1990.

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Boston University

Advertisem*nt

During his last summer in college, Cohen interned at CBS News, where he interviewed actress Susan Lucci, an opportunity Cohen has since said "changed my life."

Source: Twitter, Sirius XM

Cohen later joined the network after graduation as a news clerk with "CBS This Morning."

It was the first post of his 10 years at the network that included him becoming a producer on the show and primetime's "48 Hours."

Advertisem*nt

After four years at CBS, Cohen landed a project development role at Trio, an NBCUniversal-owned cable network.

Advertisem*nt

In 2004, Cohen moved across NBCUniversal to Bravo as vice president of original programming.

After the move, Cohen oversaw some of Bravo's biggest shows, including "Top Chef," "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," and "Project Runway."

Advertisem*nt

In addition to keeping up a daily blog about the network, Cohen began to move to on-camera opportunities.

After hosting a web-show companion to "Top Chef," Cohen first hosted a reunion in 2007 that featured the "Real Housewives of Orange County" cast, the first of the Housewives franchise.

"It was a real big deal," Cohen later told People of the gig. "I was really nervous, and you can see it on how my lips are. If you ever see the show, I am trying to be comfortable, and my face is a little tense. I'm trying to be relaxed — I'm, like, pretending to be a TV host."

After his first hosting gigs, "Watch What Happens: Live" debuted in 2009, making Cohen the unique combination of a high-level executive and on-air host.

Source: The New York Times

Advertisem*nt

Cohen also made waves as reports called him the first openly gay late-night host.

The executive-turned public personality had spoken openly about being gay as early as 2007, at the beginning of his rise at Bravo.

Cohen published his first book in May 2012, titled "Most Talkative: Stories from the Front Lines of Pop Culture."

Advertisem*nt

Cohen's star power reached new heights in 2014, when WWHL took over five nights a week and he stepped down from his day job.

Cohen hosted figures from all corners of television and popular media in his new full-time role.

That same year, Cohen published his second book, titled "The Andy Cohen Diaries: A Deep Look at a Shallow Year."

Published in November 2014, the book was modeled after Andy Warhol's published collection of near-daily diaries that captured his life among celebrities and personalities in New York City.

Advertisem*nt

Cohen's book and public image prominently feature the beagle-foxhound mix named Wacha that he adopted in November 2013.

Wacha, who was named after St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Michael Wacha, makes regular on-air appearances with Cohen and even has his own Instagram account.

Cohen became a celebrity in his own right as he was often spotted alongside fellow television and media personalities.

Advertisem*nt

He has appeared at some of the most exclusive events, accompanying his good friend, actress Sarah Jessica Parker to the invite-only Met Gala multiple times.

Cohen made a heavenly cameo in Lady Gaga's music video for her song "G.U.Y.," which debuted in March 2014.

Source: YouTube

Advertisem*nt

In September 2015, Sirius XM announced Cohen would be developing his brand in another medium.

The company announced Cohen would curate a channel of his own name featuring shows hosted by figures including himself, Sandra Bernhard, and Dan Rather.

Advertisem*nt

In June 2016, it was announced that Cohen was launching his own imprint ahead of publishing his third book.

Andy Cohen Books, an imprint of Henry Holt and Co., was launched in the spirit of Cohen's "unique ability to discover compelling personal narratives."

The sequel to his best-selling "Diaries," "Superficial: More Adventures From the Andy Cohen Diaries" was later published on November 15, 2016.

Advertisem*nt

Cohen replaced Kathy Griffin to join his good friend, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper as a "New Years Live" co-host and has been a fixture on the show since 2017.

Source: Variety

Advertisem*nt

Cooper and Cohen later launched a conversational tour series together, called "An Intimate Evening with Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper: AC2."

Cooper reportedly said the show captures an intimate look at the friendship he has with Cohen, whom he's known since both were in their early 20's.

"We show videos — things we never show on TV — and try to surprise each other with new material because we know each other's stories so well," Cooper said. "We like to top each other: 'What stories can I get Andy to tell, and how far can he go?'"

Advertisem*nt

Cohen hosted Fox game show revival "Love Connection" for two seasons before it was scrapped by the network.

The dating show's second season saw disappointing viewership before Cohen announced the cancellation on Howard Stern's radio show in the summer of 2018.

Advertisem*nt

Advertisem*nt

Cohen has an active philanthropic record and was honored in May 2019 with the Vito Russo Award at the GLAAD Media Awards, which marks significant achievements for the LGBTQ community.

"To be gay today is something that I am so thankful for, but it's a fight that's not over and it's a fight that I'm committed to even more so now that I'm a father," Cohen said while accepting the award.

"When Benjamin was born three months ago, I looked into his eyes and I saw there was no hate, no bias, no bigotry, just love. That's how we come into this world, and that is how hopefully one day we will all live in it."