Andy Cohen has a lot to celebrate these days. His late-night show, Watch What Happens Live, is celebrating 15 years on the air. In honor of the milestone, the Real Housewives EP shared some thoughts about his earlier days on the job. Specifically, he discussed being the only gay man doing late-night and how he masked himself in the beginning to fit in.
Andy flipped a switch after a few years of hosting WWHL
During the Tribeca Film Festival, Andy caught up with his CNN bestie, Anderson Cooper. The pair have been long-time friends for years and have talked about everything under the sun during WWHL and CNN appearances. This time, they discussed Andy’s career, specifically the early days, and what it was like for the Bravo figurehead to forge his path.
“The first two years I’m really sitting there and I’m quite, if I can say it, masculine,” Andy said. “I don’t know what happened to me, but I am absolutely like Charlie in the Box now, whatever that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer thing. I’m like a psycho on the air now, and I’m like, ‘When did it all go so crazy for me? When did I get this hyper on the show?’ Because I was very calm.”
Later, Andy, who’s openly gay, shared his thoughts on why he’s made such a drastic change.
“I wonder if I was kind of butching it up because I was conscious of being the only gay person doing it, and I felt like I had to present or something,” he said. “I don’t know. But I do notice that is different and my hair was black.”
Eventually, Andy reached a place where he could be his authentic self.
“I used to think to myself, ‘What I really would like to do in life is be able to be myself on TV,'” he said. “And so it’s incredible that I have come to a place where I am exactly myself on TV.”
Stream WWHL on Peacock.
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