CNN’s Anderson Cooper announces death of mother Gloria Vanderbilt

Famed fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt died on Monday at 95. A wealthy heiress and scion of one of America’s most rich and famous families, Vanderbilt was the iconic mother to one of TV’s most recognizable news anchors, CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

Cooper announced his mother’s passing on CNN Monday. “Gloria Vanderbilt was an extraordinary woman, who loved life, and lived it on her own terms. She was a painter, a writer and designer but also a remarkable mother, wife and friend,” Cooper said. “She was 95 years old, but ask anyone close to her, and they’d tell you, she was the youngest person they knew, the coolest, and most modern.”

Gloria Vanderbilt dead at 95

Cooper eulogized his mother with an obituary video highlighting her life as a socialite, model, and fashion designer. Cooper revealed that his mother learned only weeks ago that she had advanced stomach cancer. She died at home, surrounded by family and friends.

“Gloria Vanderbilt, my mom, lived her entire life in the public eye,” Cooper began.

Watch the whole tribute below:

Vanderbilt’s early life was marked by family discord. Born Gloria Laura Madeleine Sophie Vanderbilt in 1924 in New York City, she inherited a $5 million trust fund from her father, Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt, who died when she was a baby. As a girl, she was separated from her mother Morgan after a battle over the family trust fund that was called the “trial of the century.” Morgan reportedly squandered Gloria’s monthly inheritance, and she lost custody of Gloria to the heiress’s aunt Gertrude.

“My mom grew up in France, not knowing anything about the Vanderbilt family or the money that she would inherit when she turned 21,” Cooper said.

Vanderbilt would go on to lead the fast life of a model and socialite in Hollywood and New York, romancing with movie stars, musicians, artists, and directors. She married three times, reportedly dating Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando in between, before she met her fourth and final husband, writer Wyatt Cooper, who she married in 1963.

Gloria had the last two of her four children with Cooper, Anderson and Carter, the latter of whom later committed suicide. She described it as her “only happy marriage.”

“If you don’t have a father, you don’t miss it, because you don’t know what it is. It was really only when I married Wyatt Cooper that I understood what it was like to have a father, because he was just an extraordinary father,” she once said.

Model, designer

While leading a high society life among artists, Gloria was no dilettante, either. Vanderbilt had a career as a painter and an actress on Broadway and TV. She was also an author, and wrote a memoir in 2004 about her many affairs, “It Seemed Important at the Time: A Romance Memoir.”

But she may be remembered most for what she did for fashion. Vanderbilt became known in the 1970s and 1980s as a clothing designer. The “Jeans Queen” created an early and influential line of designer jeans that became synonymous with her name. She went on to design furniture, perfumes, shoes and other items.

“She always pressed on, always worked hard, always believed the best is yet to come,” Cooper said. “She was always in love. Love is what she believed in.”

Cooper remembered his mother as a fiercely independent woman who lived life on her own terms. “Gloria Vanderbilt was 95 years old when she died.  What an extraordinary life. What an extraordinary mom. And what an incredible woman.”