Anderson Cooper does a 180 after dividing fans with drastic transformation

Anderson Cooper has done a 180 just days after showing off a very different look that divided his fans.

The CNN anchor, 58, debuted a gray beard last week while on hiatus from the network, but after consulting his followers, he appears to have had a change of heart.

“Heading back to work soon. Shave or keep?” he captioned a selfie on his Instagram Story showing off his scruffier look on August 7.

Another transformation

It seems Anderson went with the masses as he returned to CNN this week sporting his typical clean-shaven look.

Anderson was back in front of the camera on August 12, sans facial hair, and looked as dapper as ever with his steely white hair and slicked-back appearance.

© CNN

It’s not the first time the veteran CNN anchor has rocked a beard that divided fans. In 2019, fans and even famous friends were torn over his facial hair.

“Anderson Cooper really should have shaved,” one user wrote on X at the time. “His Labor Day beard ain’t working.” Another added: “Anderson Cooper has a beard, and just no.”

One person was a fan though, writing: “Pop culture alert! A welcome distraction from real life, Anderson Cooper is growing beard. Hot damn. This is all.”

© CNN

During an interview with Anderson, Conan O’Brien jokingly asked him if he was “having a breakdown”.

“Are you OK, Anderson? Is it the beard? What’s going on?” He joked. “Are you having a breakdown of some kind? What’s wrong with you?”

Despite his teasing, Conan added: “By the way it looks good, you look like a very tidy wizard.”

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Anderson played along, telling Conan: “It’s not really much. It’s all I could do in nine days off. I’m gonna see how long [the network] allow me to keep it.”

When Anderson is not at work, he’s busy being a dad to his two kids, Wyatt Morgan, five, and Sebastian Luke, three, whom he shares with former partner Benjamin Maisani.

The former couple were together for almost 10 years before they split in early 2018; however, in 2020, the two decided to become fathers together for the first time, as exes.

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During an interview with People in 2023, the doting dad described co-parenting with Benjamin as “very natural,” and explained: “I work nights, and so he’s there at night. And we both wake up right before they wake up, get them their milk, and spend the first couple of hours of the day just us with them.”

Despite a strictly co-parenting relationship, Anderson and Benjamin live together in a converted firehouse in New York City.

Discussing their “unconventional” living arrangement, Anderson told Howard Stern in 2023: “We’re family and we love these kids, and we’re adults.”