For nearly 20 years, Anderson Cooper has had a rare double billing in the TV industry: anchor on CNN and correspondent for “60 Minutes,” the celebrated newsmagazine on CBS.
Now, he’s back to being a solo act.
On Monday evening, Cooper said he was leaving “60 Minutes” to spend more time with his two young sons, “while they still want to spend time with me.”
“Being a correspondent at ‘60 Minutes’ has been one of the great honors of my career,” Cooper said. “I get to tell amazing stories, and work with some of the best producers, editors, and camera crews in the business.”
After juggling his jobs at CNN and CBS with the demands of raising two boys, Cooper said, he wanted “to spend as much time with them as possible.”
Cooper’s departure will be a blow for “60 Minutes,” where he has been a contributor since 2006. Over the years, Mr. Cooper, 58, has become one of the program’s most recognizable journalists, winning Emmy Awards for his coverage of sexual assault in Congo and for a story about an unlikely group of Grammy-nominated musicians in Malawi’s Zomba Prison.
In a statement, CBS News said it was thankful that Cooper had “taken 60 Minutes viewers on journeys to faraway places, told us unforgettable stories, reported consequential investigations, and interviewed many prominent figures.”
“We’re grateful to him for dedicating so much of his life to this broadcast, and understand the importance of spending more time with family,” the statement said. “‘60 Minutes’ will be here if he ever wants to return.”
“60 Minutes” has come under scrutiny recently because of stemming from tensions between its on-air correspondents and Bari Weiss, the recently appointed editor-in-chief of CBS News. The program itself became a story late last year after Weiss made a last-minute decision to hold a segment about a prison in El Salvador over the objections of Sharyn Alfonsi, the veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent who covered the story. Weiss said the piece needed more reporting; Alfonsi said the decision was motivated by politics.
The story eventually ran with minimal changes. Weiss later said in a town-hall meeting with employees in January that she had no desire to repeat “that specific logistical nightmare” of pulling a story so close to broadcast, ever again.
In recent years, Cooper’s career has encompassed much more than TV news. He has written several books, most recently a historical biography chronicling the wealthy Astor family (Cooper is a scion of another Gilded Age dynasty, the Vanderbilts) He also hosts a podcast about grief and bereavement, “All There Is,” which explores loss with in-depth interviews.
Cooper’s departure was earlier reported by Breaker, an email newsletter.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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