Anderson Cooper realised he was "different" when he was seven years old.
The CNN anchor knew "something was up" from a young age, and though he came out as gay to a few people while in high school, it was only once he'd been through college that he fully embraced his sexuality.
Speaking on Full Circle, Cooper said: “I mean, I was probably, I don’t know, seven, when I kind of realised — I’m not sure I knew the word ‘gay’ at the time, but I realised something was up. Something was different."
He went on: “I think I really, truly accepted it - and not just accepted it, but fully embraced it and you know, came around to really loving the fact that I was gay - would probably be right after college."
The presenter also admitted he had been worried about the "limitations" his sexuality would put on his life.
"It felt like there were a lot of limitations on it, and it wasn’t what I envisioned for my life. Or, I imagined a family and getting married. All those things which weren’t possible at the time," he mused.
Explaining: "at a certain point, I think about a year out of college, I thought, I don’t want to waste any more time worrying about this and sort of wishing I was some other way,” Cooper - who has a nine-month-old son, Wyatt - then reflected that he feels "very blessed" to be gay.
"I wanna embrace who I am, and as I’ve said before, I think being gay is one of the great blessings of my life," he shared.
