Anderson Cooper attends Billboard Women In Music 2016 Airing December 12th On Lifetime at Pier 36 on December 9, 2016 in New York City© Getty Images

Anderson Cooper fawns over two sons, details parenting challenges and adorable 'emergency'

The Anderson Cooper 360 host coparents Wyatt and Sebastian with his ex, Benjamin Maisani

Ahad Sanwari - New York
Senior WriterNew York
July 27, 2023

Anderson Cooper got real about parenting on the latest installment of Live with Kelly and Mark while filling in for Kelly Ripa.

The CNN anchor, 56, is a father to sons Wyatt, three, and Sebastian, one, and co-parents them with ex Benjamin Maisani, even though the two split up in 2018.

He and co-host Mark Consuelos opened their show by talking about him being on as a guest host for the first time, and Anderson commented that he looked like he had been "ravaged by time."

VIDEO: Anderson Cooper opens up about baby son Wyatt

He continued: "The thing about having kids is…all I want to do is spend time with them, so I just stopped working out. I've just started again, because I gotta get back into it.

"I was carrying them around and I would get all these ailments that I didn't know existed, like tennis elbow and baby elbow. And then I switch my arms and I would get it [on the other]. So then I was walking around unable to use my arms."

MORE: Anderson Cooper's children: Cutest photos and more

While discussing some of the other injuries he'd dealt with previously, Anderson joked: "I'm genetically not meant to work out, I think. I think I come from a long line of layabouts, they just didn't have developed musculature."

© Getty Images

Anderson replaced Kelly Ripa for Thursday's installment of "Live with Kelly and Mark"

Mark, in response, confessed that he felt bad because when his wife welcomed their three children, Michael, Lola, and Joaquin (now ages 26, 22, and 20 respectively), he still went to the gym because "Kelly was there."

MORE: Anderson Cooper makes heartwarming revelation about son during chat with Kelly Ripa 

Anderson responded: "It's the greatest thing, although in my house over the last two weeks, we've had something of an emergency."

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He opened up about some of the challenges of parenting

He admitted that Wyatt was suffering because they had lost his favorite toy, a small brown bear who went by the name "brown bear," appropriately enough.

DISCOVER: Anderson Cooper shares the sweet nickname his son Wyatt has for baby brother Sebastian

"Brown bear has been with him since the beginning," the former 60 Minutes correspondent added, sharing a photo of the toy, whose "ears had been chewed off by Wyatt, he's been hugged so much that his fur is all matted."

© Getty Images

The CNN anchor and Mark bonded over being fathers

He detailed spending "days online" trying to find a copy of the toy, although because he had cut off the tag before giving it to son, they had no idea who the manufacturer was.

MORE: Is Anderson Cooper still together with Benjamin Maisani? Inside their complex relationship

Mark then turned to the camera and said: "Listen, our viewers out there, if you have any leads, please write in. We need to get Wyatt his brown bear back," which left Anderson chuckling, although his three-year-old was admittedly not dealing with the loss well.

© Instagram

Anderson talked about his son Wyatt losing his favorite stuffed toy

"This morning when I was getting ready, as he has done every morning for the last two weeks, the first thing he says is 'Where's brown bear?'"

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