Anderson Cooper Gets Emotional About 25 Years at CNN & Shares Nostalgic Photo

Anderson Cooper celebrated 25 years at CNN on Wednesday (November 11) with a nostalgic throwback photo and a quip about his gray hair.

According to People, the longtime news anchor shared a photo from when he first joined CNN on his Instagram Story (which has since expired). The image showed a young Cooper wearing a blue checkered shirt and a backpack as he posed for the camera.

“Was hired by @cnn 25 years ago today,” Cooper wrote over the photo. “Time definitely flies, and gray hair spreads.”

Anderson Cooper Instagram

Cooper joined CNN back in 2001, serving as the network’s weekend anchor. In 2003, he began hosting Anderson Cooper 360°, one of CNN’s longest-running and most popular programs. Throughout the years, he has covered many major news events, including presidential elections, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, and more.

His reporting has earned him 23 Emmy Awards, plus a Peabody Award for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina. He also cohosts CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live each year with his close friend Andy Cohen.

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Before joining CNN, Cooper worked at ABC News, serving as a correspondent and host of the reality show The Mole. He also served as a correspondent on CBS’ 60 Minutes for 20 years until announcing his departure back in February.

Appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in April, Cooper said he feels honored to do the job he does. “I feel incredibly privileged and I’m incredibly grateful for having had the career that I’ve had and the opportunity to travel all around the world,” he stated.

Cooper admitted the way people consume media is changing, but noted, “Somebody’s got to go out and provide the actual reporting for everyone else to talk about and form an opinion.” He added, “There is great value in having a news organization which has bureaus all over the world” that allows journalists to “go there and talk to people and turn on your camera.”

“That camera is a tiny piece of glass, but it can transmit [the] truth,” he continued, adding that he feels “lucky that I’ve been able to be a small part of it for all these years.”