Less than 24 hours after Anderson Cooper revealed that he was gay, comedian Joan Rivers called me to say how happy she was that the newsman came out of the closet and that she hoped it would help all those kids and adults who have yet to do the same.
"I am thrilled that Anderson Cooper finally came out, because this explains why he never tried to date me. I saw him as the perfect package," says Rivers. "I would have loved Gloria Vanderbilt as a mother-in-law. This explains everything."
Rivers also couldn’t help getting in a little joke about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' split. "She gets to keep the mansions and Tom gets the clothes!" Rivers said.
On a more serious note, Anderson’s decision to finally go public with something he has kept private for many years might have a bigger impact than the silver fox could ever imagine.
"Anderson has a successful daytime talk show and a primetime show on CNN," one executive producer tells me. "I pray that his ratings don’t decline after this. If they do, the message that sends to every other closeted anchor is [to] remain silent. In the business, we always knew he was gay but didn’t care. There is at least one other big-time anchor who has yet to publicly [acknowledge] she is gay. I hope this gives her the courage to come out too. It's so much easier to hate in the abstract."
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