Anderson Cooper has said he came out
gay because he did not want to send the message that he's ashamed of
his sexuality.
The 45-year-old Cooper came out in an
e-mail to The Daily Beast's Andrew Sullivan after years of
dodging rumors.
“The fact is, I'm gay, always have
been, always will be, and I couldn't be any more happy, comfortable
with myself, and proud,” he wrote.
During a segment on his daytime talk
show, co-host Kristin Chenoweth asked Cooper about his “big
summer.”
Cooper told Chenoweth that he has been
out since high school but stopped short of discussing his sexuality
publicly “because as a reporter I didn't think it was appropriate.
It didn't seem part of my job.”
“[A]t the same time, I think
visibility is important,” he added, saying that he didn't “want
to send a message that there was anything I was ashamed about or
unhappy about or not comfortable with. That was the main thing for
me.” (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)