During my chat with Anderson Cooper this morning Anderson told me that he's largely unfazed by celebrities and that he does not consciously seek fame.
Part of it is the fact that he was exposed to celebrities from a very early age and he realized that they have the same fears and anxieties and problems as everyone else.
He recalled that his parents (Gloria Vanderbilt and Wyatt Cooper) regularly entertained famous people He told me the story of when they welcomed Charlie Chaplin into their home. "I was just a kid and when I heard Chaplin was coming I expected a funny little guy with a bowler hat and a cane. But he was older then and looked just like everybody else. So I guess I sort of learned from experiences like that."
I asked him how he feels about his own celebrity and he was benign about it. He told me that fame is not the goal and that he doesn't go looking for billboards of himself or photos of himself on magazine covers, nor does he usually take note of what's written about him. He very much sees himself as a journalist and he does not believe that a journalist should be part of the story.
He says an idol of his was the photographer Gordon Parks -- a man who felt deeply and cared passionately but who saw the world through his camera, very much as a spectator. One suspects that this remains Anderson's model.
"The important thing," Anderson says is to do your job; to work hard, do your best, care about what you do."
And Anderson noted that some famous and presumably successful people are actually very unhappy. For his part he appears to be determined to keep his life in balance.
No comments:
Post a Comment