Anderson Cooper Remembers Going To Studio 54 When He Was 10 With Michael Jackson (VIDEO)

As part of CNN's coverage of Michael Jackson's death, Anderson Cooper told a story about going to Studio 54 when he was 10 with Jackson and other friends.

"When I was 10, for some odd reason, I went to Studio 54 with Michael Jackson and a bunch of people and I had no idea who he was and I saw him dance and I was like, Oh, that guy is a really good dancer."

Later, he tantalizingly added: "Why I was at Studio 54 is a whole other story... Child welfare authorities probably want to talk to my mom."

Watch the video:

Comments

[pissedmichael]

This story is important why? Please give it a rest. Move on to real issues/stories please.

[PhilipB]

Well, I looked at the home page and there were lots of things to read if you are not interested in this. Also, there are big news pages and you can do a search for things you find to be a real story.
Happy reading and commenting!

[DeeW]

lol - exactly

[pissedmichael]

I do look at every page and I already comment. Your right. I should just ignore things like this. I just dislike the preponderance of these kinds of non-stories, they leech brain matter.

[swingerofbirches]

You guys this is nothing....my aunt is friend's with this guy who is a huge Michael Jackson fan and collects all sorts of MJ paraphernalia. I'd imagine he even tried to see MJ or would have wanted to at least. He may have even been to one of his concerts, I don't know!

I can't wait to tell this story at parties!

[noamjunior]

Anderson Vanderbilt is the phoniest, lamest, talentless, closet case since Billo

[MsLiz]

His sexuality is your business because . . . why, now?

[AnnoyedCanuck]

And you're an authority on closet cases because . . . Care to fill us in?

[cutandpost]

oooh someone sounds jealous

[ndnndpendent]

Kind of a nutty side bar, but ok....we will indulge you Anderson....

[repugnicansfearme]

I mean, seriously, Cooper should just hand in his press credentials after this admission. What a kook. The guy can't be taken seriously. Boot sniffer.

[jdiary]

Plus, did he just happen to be there? He's suggesting somehow that Micheal was involved with him going there. He was there "with a bunch of peope?" How did a 10 year old nobody end up in a crowd that hung out at Studio 54? That story just makes no sense. I think it's completely fabricated.

[SeekerOne]

He has a famous mother, that's how it happened.

[listentome]

Gloria Vanderbilt is his mom.

[YankeeCanuck]

His mother is Gloria Vanderbilt--in NY, at that time, that's a very, very big Somebody.

[Monn]

If you saw the whole exchange about this on CNN Cooper said he'd blog some of the details during commercial. He did. His mother was friends with the director of the Wiz, so the they got an invite to the premiere and the after party at Studio 54. He was part of the group that rode in MJ's limo to the club while girls barking up the wrong tree chased the limo and screamed Michael's name.

Gloria Vanderbilt had a lot of friends in the arts. She was also married to a famous composer, married to director Sidney Lumet, and dated the director of Shaft.

[ladyrefined2000]

was that his mom???????

that explains why he on tv..........

not because of his talent....­......beca­use of his connections.

like luke russett.

[PhilipB]

Anderson's great Aunt had once been the mistress of the Prince of Wales. his mother came from great american wealth Whitney, Vanderbilt, had had been married to the conductor Stokwski and the director Sindey Lumet. His father had been a close friend of the wit and writer Dorothy Parker. This very New York mix of high society and the arts is his families background. Studio 54 was ground zero for the cult of celebrity which followed in our culture, and It is certainly credible that the child with this background would be given entree to this truly exclusive (velvet rope, VIP room) club.

[Phreejazz]

I get that Michael Jackson's death is huge. I get the impact he had, world-wide. But seriously, HPo running a story about an anchor's memory of him when he was a kid? Lame.

[PhilipB]

When people die, people remember them. This happens even when someone is not as famous as Jackson. I like hearing about Coopers encounter, and the one posted here when a boy met him at a hotel. Since i am about the same age as Jackson, I remember him with a mixture of feelings throughout my life.

[PDXTransplant]

And yet you stopped to read and post a comment. See that's why they run the stories they do for people like you. :o)

[jennyjen]

I met the Jackson 5 when I was 16 - Michael was 14. They stayed in a hotel that my Dad ran in North Carolina whenever they were in town. After the concert I was hanging around with my sisters friend on a glassed in walkway over the pool that connected the lobby to the hotel. Next thing we know security guards have their arms across our necks shoving us up against the glass. The Jackson 5 went running by in full stage costume.

Very surreal. My Dad came by and said that Joe Jackson had invited us up to meet them so away we went. Now I was a Led Zeppelin - Stones - Beatles fan so I wasn't that excited - we go upstairs and the kids were in street clothes sitting in chairs in a row and looking very pissed. It was funny that our fathers had engineered this meeting against both of our wills. Michael was very shy and not communicative. I really didn't blame him frankly. When we went downstairs the hotel was mobbed with screaming crying girls. Again - quite surreal - I didn't know they were still that popular.

After that when I saw them around the hotel they were very nice. We were allowed to use the pool and I used to love it when all the white people would get out of the water whenever the Jackson 5 went swimming. Bunch of rednecks.

[jdiary]

That's a great story. Thanks for sharing.

[PhilipB]

Great story.

[escribacat]

Good story. Doesn't sound like much fun being roughed up by security though!

[DrFrescas]

I saw Anderson tell this story live on CNN last night. I don't understand what he was talking about.

[nowarpleez]

It's a shame that the republican hatred and smear has no bounds. I'm shocked at some of the vile posts to this blog about an American icon like MJ.

[2bad]

American icon, yes. But, don't forget, he wasn't convicted but there is a mountain of evidence that suggests he was a pedophile.

[hidenout]

He certainly had his "issues", didn't he....

[boycottrightwingthings]

Mountain of evidence was more like a moehill. They never found anything on his computers or his magazines that indicated any sexual interest in children. Nothing. Nada. He had thousands of encounters whit child fans and famous kids and ALL of them said noting inappropriate happened. I highly doubt that he would have hit on the sick kids on his ranch, either. I mean, these kids had Aids from blood transfusions and cancer. Most, almost all, of the people who I know agree. Most said he looked the happiest with Lisa Marie. It's a shame that he couldn't have a normal relationship given the abuse that he went through as a child, his emotionally tortured state, his models, and being brought up the center of his own universe in a bubble.. yes, he was eccentric, but that does NOT make him a pedophile.

[LesaLesa]

When he was 10, he had no idea who Michael was. Wow. When I was ten, I can remember Michael very well and I'm the same age as Anderson.

When Anderson was ten, Michael was 18 and very well known from the Jackson 5.

[WilliePilgrim]

Life would be much duller if we all obeyed the laws.

[BabblingBrooks]

I once shook Eleanor Roosevelt's hand.

[AbeMartin]

Ewwww! Too much information, Anderson. We really don't want to know the follow-up about your visit to Neverland.

[PhilipB]

That would have been in 1977.
I remember that time, and I wanted to go to Studio 54 with Halston, Liza, Warhol and now i read Anderson Cooper and Michael Jackson,too.
Sounds like fun!