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Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper say they first met in the early 1990s, but their friendship grew closer over years of trips, shared experiences and work. Their CNN New Year’s Eve broadcasts made that bond visible to a large audience; they came after the personal connection was already well established.
How Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper met
In a 2025 interview with Parade, Cohen and Cooper recalled meeting in the early 1990s through a blind-date setup. They also remembered traveling with mutual friends during that decade. Their account describes an early acquaintance, not an instant transformation into the close friendship they speak about today.
Cohen offered a similar time frame in CNN’s 2017 announcement of their first joint New Year’s Eve broadcast, saying they had been friends for 25 years. That was his estimate at the time; their later recollection places the meeting in the early 1990s.
What brought them closer
They have described shared travel as part of how the friendship deepened. Cooper pointed to a trip to Brazil as a turning point, and also recalled the period around Cohen’s 40th birthday. Cohen remembered trips in the 1990s and said he enjoyed making Cooper laugh. These milestones come from the two men’s public recollections rather than a complete account of their private history.
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Cohen also recalled that their public association grew as his show and Cooper’s daytime talk show were both on the air. He dated their AC2 tour to around 2013. By CNN’s October 2017 announcement, Cohen said they had performed together in more than 30 cities as AC2.
How their friendship became a public partnership
The chronology matters: they were friends before they began hosting CNN’s New Year’s Eve broadcast together. CNN announced their first joint hosting in October 2017, presenting the show as a new on-air collaboration between longtime friends. A year later, the network announced their return; Cohen described their 25 years of friendship as leading to “an almost-tradition” of co-hosting.
CNN said in its December 2025 announcement that the broadcast welcoming 2026 would be their ninth consecutive year as co-hosts. That is the network’s count for that specific broadcast, not a commitment about future years. The announcement listed CNN All Access and CNN apps as streaming options for that year’s programming.
What they say their friendship is like now
In the 2025 Parade interview, Cohen said their conversations are often about their children and personal lives rather than celebrity news or politics: “We don’t really talk about pop culture. We don’t talk about politics.” The two described keeping in touch through calls, texts and FaceTime, as well as taking vacations together.
Cooper called Cohen “a true friend” and said it was nice to have “somebody I trust and admire in the same ecosystem.” Their comments portray a friendship that extends beyond their shared work, while remaining their own account of how they relate to one another.
They also mentioned a brief disagreement connected to a family vacation. Cohen called it a “flash fight,” and they said they worked it out. Their description gives no basis for treating it as a serious rupture.
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Friendship first, then the cameras
Cohen and Cooper’s story is not simply a TV partnership that turned into a friendship. By their account, they met years before their joint broadcasts, became closer through shared experiences, and later brought that rapport to AC2 and CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage. The broadcasts are the public chapter of a longer personal relationship, not evidence of every detail of their private lives.
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