There’s no trust fund for Anderson Cooper.
The CNN host said in an interview this week that he will not be inheriting any part of his mother’s $200 million fortune, according to The New York Post.
“My mom’s made clear to me that there’s no trust fund,” Cooper said Monday on the Howard Stern Show. “There’s none of that.”
Anderson’s mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, 90, is the great-great-great-granddaughter Cornelius Vanderbilt. Gloria Vanderbilt’s father, Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt, died when she was a year old, and left her a trust fund worth $5 million in 1925, according to the Post. For his part, Anderson said he was doing “fine” on his own — the Post reports he makes $11 million a year at CNN.
“I don’t believe in inheriting money,” Anderson said “I think it’s an initiative sucker. I think it’s a curse.”
He also asked: “Who’s inherited a lot of money that has gone on to do things in their own life?”
“From the time I was growing up, if I felt that there was some pot of gold waiting for me, I don’t know that I would’ve been so motivated,” he said.
Anderson said he thought it was “healthier” to focus on his father’s upbringing.
“I’ve never paid attention to it, honestly, like my dad grew up really poor in Mississippi,” he said. “That’s a healthier thing to pay attention to than like some statue of a great-great-great-grandfather who has no connection to my life.”
