Current:Home > MyAnderson Cooper says he 'never really grieved' before emotional podcast, announces Season 2 -Secure Growth Solutions
Anderson Cooper says he 'never really grieved' before emotional podcast, announces Season 2
View
Date:2025-04-16 10:48:23
Anderson Cooper is opening up about his delay in experiencing grief after the death of his mom, dad and brother.
In an essay for CNN published Wednesday, marking the Season 2 premiere of his grieving podcast "All There Is," Cooper wrote, "I realized a couple months ago that I’ve never really grieved before. … But experiencing loss and actually grieving are two different things."
Cooper's first season of his podcast discussed his journey going through his late loved ones' things. "When the first season of the podcast ended last November, I stopped going through all those boxes. It was just too hard, and I needed a break," he shared.
The reporter capped the Season 1 finale by going through 200 voicemails of listeners sharing their own stories of coping with loss. "There were more than a thousand calls I hadn’t heard, and I felt bad about that. I didn’t plan on doing a second season of the podcast, but a few months ago, I listened to all those unheard messages – more than 46 hours of them. It turned out to be one of the most moving experiences of my life," Cooper shared.
All There Is with Anderson Cooper: Facing Our Grief on Apple Podcasts
Cooper revealed that hearing those voicemails encouraged him to go through his parents and brother's boxed items once more. In doing that, he recovered an essay his dad wrote more than 40 years ago titled "The Importance of Grieving."
"He wrote about what happens to children when they aren’t able to properly grieve. He quoted a psychologist who said, 'When a person is unable to complete a mourning task in childhood, he either has to surrender his emotions in order that they do not suddenly overwhelm him, or else he may be haunted constantly throughout his life, with a sadness for which he can never find an appropriate explanation,'" the news anchor recalled, adding that that was his wake up call in realizing that he didn't properly grieve.
"When my dad died in 1978, I dug a deep hole inside myself and pushed my fear and sadness and anger down into it. I barely even cried. A decade later, when my brother Carter died by suicide, I pushed those feelings down further," Cooper shared. "I thought I could keep all that grief buried forever, but it turns out grief doesn’t work that way. As one podcast listener said to me, 'It has to go somewhere.'"
'We all get stuck':Anderson Cooper more vulnerable than ever in new grief podcast
He added, "I see now that in burying my grief, I’ve also buried my ability to feel joy, and I don’t want to do that any longer. I can’t. I want to feel all there is."
Season 2 of Cooper's podcast will focus on people who "have found ways to live with their grief and to learn from it," he concluded.
If you'd like to share your thoughts on grief with USA TODAY for possible use in a future story, please take this survey here.
People are talking to dead loved ones– and they can't stop laughing. It's a refreshing trend.
veryGood! (38)
Related
- Megan Fox's ex Brian Austin Green tells Machine Gun Kelly to 'grow up'
- Former NFL star and CBS sports anchor Irv Cross had the brain disease CTE
- Why an ulcer drug could be the last option for many abortion patients
- Pandemic food assistance that held back hunger comes to an end
- Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow owns a $3 million Batmobile Tumbler
- LGBTQ+ youth are less likely to feel depressed with parental support, study says
- Pittsburgh synagogue shooter found guilty in Tree of Life attack
- California Adopts First Standards for Cyber Security of Smart Meters
- Man can't find second winning lottery ticket, sues over $394 million jackpot, lawsuit says
- 2018’s Hemispheric Heat Wave Wasn’t Possible Without Climate Change, Scientists Say
Ranking
- 3 years after the NFL added a 17th game, the push for an 18th gets stronger
- Germany’s Nuke Shutdown Forces Utility Giant E.ON to Cut 11,000 Jobs
- Michigan bans hairstyle discrimination in workplaces and schools
- InsideClimate News Wins SABEW Awards for Business Journalism for Agriculture, Military Series
- Your Wedding Guests Will Thank You if You Get Married at These All-Inclusive Resorts
- California Moves to Avoid Europe’s Perils in Encouraging Green Power
- Don't get the jitters — keep up a healthy relationship with caffeine using these tips
- Idaho Murder Case: Suspect Bryan Kohberger Indicted By Grand Jury
Recommendation
Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
This is the period talk you should've gotten
New details emerge about American couple found dead in Mexico resort hotel as family shares woman's final text
In the Face of a Pandemic, Climate Activists Reevaluate Their Tactics
American news website Axios laying off dozens of employees
They could lose the house — to Medicaid
Trump’s EPA Fast-Tracks a Controversial Rule That Would Restrict the Use of Health Science
Stone flakes made by modern monkeys trigger big questions about early humans