Newsman Anderson Cooper wrapped up his almost 20 years as a correspondent on 60 Minutes last weekend. In a postscript interview on 60 Minutes Overtime, Cooper, who himself has become known for asking the hard questions, let us all in on his decision to leave the show. I'm amazed at just how much it was cutting into his vacation time from his other gig as a CNN host. I admire Cooper for his dedication, and I certainly understand why he needed to step away from 60 Minutes.
20 Years In A Moonlighting Gig
Cooper joined CBS’s 60 Minutes, the venerable news magazine show that you can watch with a Paramount+ subscription, in 2006. The gig, at the time, one of the most prestigious in the news industry, came at a cost. Cooper was then, as he is now, the most visible face on CNN. That meant Cooper had to find a way to find time for two pretty demanding jobs. It turns out he had to use a lot of his vacation time from CNN to make it work for 60 Minutes. That weighed heavily on his recent decision to leave the show, telling 60 Minutes Overtime:
It’s been really challenging to do the kind of work you need to do to have a great 60 Minutes piece on. CNN doesn’t like it if I take a lot of time off to work on a 60 Minutes piece, so I’ve worked mostly for 60 Minutes on weekends. My vacation time at CNN has been working on 60 Minutes pieces. I’ve loved it, but it’s been tough.
While he says 60 Minutes “never felt like work,” it still meant that he was burning the candle at both ends, by essentially moonlighting in a second full-time job at a show with a notoriously competitive environment. That’s going to put stress on anyone, no matter how much they love what they do.
Family Also Played A Part
Taking all your vacation time, not to mention your weekends, is also stressful on your family. Cooper has two sons, Wyatt Morgan Cooper and Sebastian Luke Maisani-Cooper, whom he co-parents with his ex-partner Benjamin Maisani. Working for CBS and CNN (not to mention other occasional gigs like a temporary Jeopardy! host) meant Cooper had little downtime to spend with his kids. And as any parent knows, that is a kind of stress that really weighs on someone. Cooper told Overtime:
I’ve got a 4-year-old and a just now 6-year-old, and I want to spend as much time with them as I can, while they still want to spend time with me. Those days, that clock is ticking, I think.
Cooper came to that realization while on a story in South Africa, recognizing that he was thousands of miles away from home (again), while his son was leaving for school that morning. That is something that any parent can appreciate, and while I’ll miss Cooper’s contributions to 60 Minutes, I can’t begrudge him at all for his decision.
