Real Housewives: 10 Coolest Facts About Host Andy Cohen

Andy Cohen is the man who turned being a Housewife into a phenomenon. The 52-year-old is now renowned for not only the Real Housewives franchise but his own talk show of which he’s the host and executive producer of Watch What Happens Live, as well as being a celebrity in his own right.

It’s also well documented in entertainment news that the St. Louis native lives an openly gay and proud life, and is not only currently single but a single dad to son Benjamin Allen Cohen.

But how did this CBS intern fresh from Boston U. become an award-winning journalist? Whom does he hobnob with? Does he have a favorite “wife?” Let’s see.

10 His Friendship Trifecta

Who’s his date for the Met Gala each year? Sarah Jessica Parker. The two met when he was a CBS producer working on The Morning Show and a long-lasting friendship was born.

Cohen and Anderson Cooper were a set-up, but the pre-date phone call proved that Anderson wasn’t feeling it, then Andy broke the CNN host’s golden rule (don’t bring up his mom Gloria Vanderbilt). The two met a year later and hit it off as pals.

Cohen met Kelly Ripa at a Christmas party in the ’90s and became instant buddies. He credits her with saving him from skin cancer when she insisted he see a doctor regarding a mark on his lip, which he had been ignoring. It turned out to be a malignant melanoma.

9 He Loves The Real Housewives Of New York

Cohen grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and spent his college years in Boston, but once he arrived in Manhattan he became a diehard New Yorker. It only stands to reason that the creator of the Housewife franchise would have a soft spot for the Big Apple ladies.

Perhaps because they’re the gift that keeps on giving as Bethenny Frankel proved to be a hit, Ramona Singer never fails to bring the drama; life was more than a cabaret with Luann de Lesseps and her marriage/divorce/arrest storyline, and don’t forget Scary Island when Kelly Bensimon melted down.

8 He’s A Bestselling Author

Cohen has written three books with a fourth to be published in November of 2021. Most Talkative: Stories from the Front Lines of Pop Culture (2012) is where he writes about his lifelong love affair with all things TV and his natural progression into making a career in the medium. He also wrote The Andy Cohen Diaries: A Deep Look at a Shallow Year (2014) and the follow up: Superficial: More Adventures from the Andy Cohen Diaries (2016).

Coming in the fall is Everyday Glitter: 365 Quotes from Women I Love— a collection from divas, housewives, and larger-than-life celebs meant to inspire.

7 And A Hockey Guy

He may be a New Yorker now, but he’s a hometown boy when it comes to his favorite sports team the St. Louis Blues. Cohen even joined the NHL Live set to talk about his love for the game and team, before Game 7.

Three Blues players: Patrick Maroon, Colton Parayko and Joel Edmundson have all appeared behind the bar on his show WWHL. The Cup actually spent time on the set as well. Aside from hockey, he’s also a fan of the St. Louis Cardinal baseball team.

6 He Loves Fast Food

Cohen is worth an estimated 50 million dollars. That means he can afford to not only eat anywhere he wants, but also buy the restaurant. Yet he loves pizza, Doritos, and one of his favorite foods is a McDonald’s value meal with two cheeseburgers, super-sized fries, and a medium Diet Coke.

When not at Mickey D’s, the downtown Manhattan (as in Greenwich Village) resident is at any one of these West Village haunts Anfora or Morandi for Italian, Cafe Cluny for French, and The Cubby Hole, an eclectic bar to where he loves to bring friends.

5 He IS Bravo

Cohen is truly the king of the network, and not just because of the Real Housewives juggernaut, which will add an All Stars show for the installments of the OC, NYC, ATL, NJ, D.C., Beverly Hills, Miami, Dallas, Potomac, and Salt Lake City.

There are also many Housewives spin-offs like Vanderpump Rules, Bethenny Ever After and Manzo’d With Children, to name a few. He is just as proud to executive produce Project Runway and  Top Chef, for which he garnered an Emmy. Cohen has also hosted the reboot of the dating show Love Connection.

4 And Has A Radio Empire

Radio Andy (Ch. 102 on SiriusXM) is Cohen’s universe, spanning pop culture, news, and interviews with the unfiltered vibe Cohen is known for. Cohn himself hosts two shows on the channel: Andy Cohen Live and Deep and Shallow.

Also on his channel are the shows Jeff Lewis Live, Lunch with Bruce (Bozzi), WOW Report, Here’s What Happened Live, Reality Checked, The Feels, Bevelations, and the Smith Sisters Live. Jill Kargman also once had a show on Cohen’s channel as well.

3 He’s The First And Only Openly Gay American Late-Night Talk Show Host

It’s hard to believe how he became so comfortable he is with his sexuality considering what his life was like before he became a major player in entertainment, in regards to his struggles with coming out (no gay role models, the HIV/AIDS crisis, not thinking friends and family would accept him).

After he came out to his mother though, she supported him by getting involved in helping the LGBTQ+ community. Cohen has secured his place as someone who continually informs the public about the challenges gay men experience each day.

2 He Likes To Play Himself

His hosting gigs notwithstanding, Cohen has appeared on scripted TV shows such as Riverdale, Difficult People, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Nightcap, Inside Amy Schumer, The Comeback, and Alpha House as Andy Cohen.

Now and again, Cohen has taken a cheeky role, as in 2001, when he was a backup dancer for the B-52s, in 2014 when played Zeus in Lady Gaga’s video “G.U.Y.,”  and in 2004, when he played a shoe salesman in the “Let There Be Light” episode of Sex And The City.

1 His Son Is His Everything

Early in 2020, the Bravo executive came down with a fever, cough, chest tightness, chills, fatigue, loss of smell and appetite, and a very achy body. It was the coronavirus and he had to self-isolate. The worst part of experiencing COVID-19 was not the symptoms, but being away from son Ben, who was only a year old at the time.

“Family means everything to me and having one of my own is something that I have wanted in my heart for my entire life,” Cohen told his WWHL viewers when he announced he was going to be a father. Ben is now 2.