Anderson Cooper Comes Out: Kathy Griffin Warns CNN Host To Be Careful

In response to Anderson Cooper's announcement that he is gay, Kathy Griffin wrote in the Daily Beast that while she is proud of her friend, she thinks he needs to be careful.

Cooper and Griffin are close friends who appear on one another shows, and co-host CNN's live coverage of New Years Eve. Cooper has complained that Griffin is a terrible house guest. Griffin has joked about the many ways she would like to humiliate Cooper on air. In her piece for the Daily Beast, Griffin also wrote that she was often asked about Cooper's sexuality by the press.

For years, Cooper did not publicly address his sexuality, but finally came out in an interview with Daily Beast writer Andrew Sullivan on Monday. "It’s become clear to me that by remaining silent on certain aspects of my personal life for so long, I have given some the mistaken impression that I am trying to hide something—something that makes me uncomfortable, ashamed, or even afraid," Cooper wrote to Sullivan in an email. "This is distressing because it is simply not true.” He added, "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."

Griffin first wrote of Cooper's role as a journalist who has traveled all over the world to cover stories of war, famine, natural disasters and more. She then listed off places in the world, including places in the United States, where it remains dangerous to be openly gay. "Many of my young gays...don’t know about Cuba’s jailing of HIV patients or even that Iran has sentenced gay teenagers to death by hanging," Griffin wrote. She added that while America has progressed to "treating people across the sexual orientation spectrum with dignity and respect, America—the world—is not fully represented by Chelsea in New York City."

In his Monday announcement, Cooper addressed the need to blend in as a reporter, and wrote how that impacted his decision to not speak publicly about his sexuality. "Since I started as a reporter in war zones 20 years ago, I've often found myself in some very dangerous places," Cooper said. "For my safety and the safety of those I work with, I try to blend in as much as possible, and prefer to stick to my job of telling other people’s stories, and not my own."

Click over to the Daily Beast to read Griffin's full article.