Left to right: Cathy Craig, me, Gloria Vanderbilt (Anderson Cooper's mom), Wendy Adams, at ABC in April, 1999. We concocted an elaborate
scheme to ambush Anderson on the set while he was anchoring: I pretended to be auditioning new backup singers, and Ms. Vanderbilt
came out and serenaded him. He was surprised, all right, and probably pissed when his mom took out his baby album, but he played along and
made the bit even funnier with his ad libs. The buttons say "I'm Coo-Coo For Cooper". I received a lovely handwritten note from Ms.
Vanderbilt that said, in part, "Laughter is the greatest gift and you have a genius for bringing this into our lives." Who am I to argue?
She knows Nancy Reagan personally.