Anderson Cooper says he came out gay to
make a statement, adding that he feels it's an important statement
for public figures.
Cooper, who came out gay earlier this year
after ducking rumors for years, appeared on ABC's daytime talk show
The View.
The 45-year-old Cooper said he first
came out to friends and family in high school but kept quiet publicly
because his work as a CNN correspondent often takes him to places
where violence against gay people is routine.
“I wanted a certain amount of privacy
in my public life,” he said. “Also I travel to a lot of very
dangerous areas. I started as a war correspondent traveling by
myself. And I didn't want to do anything that would add danger. I
traveled to a lot of places where they kill gay people, and still
continue to kill gay people. You know, Iraq, Afghanistan.”
“But I also got to the point where I
feel as a public person there is a responsibility to send the message
that I'm very proud of being gay, I couldn't be happier being gay,
and that you can be successful and you can be happy. And for those
of us in public life, I just think it's important to make that
statement.” (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
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