Kathy Griffin Says She Knew Anderson Cooper’s Late Mom Gloria Vanderbilt ‘Better’ Than Him
Kathy Griffin opened up about the death of socialite Gloria Vanderbilt in a new interview, saying that she “kind of knew her better” than Griffin’s former friend and Vanderbilt’s son Anderson Cooper.
While promoting her upcoming movie, Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a Story, on BuzzFeed News’ AM to DM show, Griffin, 58, said that she had a close relationship with Vanderbilt, who died last month at age 95.
“I was really in love with Anderson’s mom, the great Gloria Vanderbilt,” Griffin said. “She let me call her Glo-Vandy. She gave me so many life lessons, we would chat, and I actually kind of knew her better than Anderson in a way.”
“I hear her voice today, saying things like, ‘Your whole life can change in one phone call.’ And that’s true!” she added.
Griffin’s longtime friendship with Cooper, 52, ended after the comedian sparked widespread outrage in May 2017 for holding up a mask of President Donald Trump’s head with fake blood on it.
Cooper called the photo “disgusting and completely inappropriate” on Twitter at the time, and Griffin was also was fired from CNN’s New Year’s Eve broadcast, which she had co-hosted with Cooper for 10 years.
Asked whether she and Cooper had been in touch following Vanderbilt’s death, Griffin said, “No, Anderson’s not really wired that way.”
“He and [CNN executive] Jeff Zucker are kind of cut from the same cloth, and I’ve known Jeff for a long time,” Griffin said. “Look, a lot of these older white guys hate me, and they’ve hated me for years, because I’ve been a ballsy chick my whole career and I’ve never learned my lesson.”
CNN had no comment when reached by PEOPLE.
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“Misogyny and sexism is a big part of my message, and as I get older, I don’t have a f— left to give,” she added. “I really don’t.”
“I did lose, honestly, probably about 75 percent of my friends that didn’t come back,” Griffin said of losing friendships after her scandal. “It was difficult, but you get real clarity.”
During an interview with PEOPLE on Tuesday, Griffin shared a similar sentiment, saying that she didn’t think Cooper wanted to reconcile with her.
“I don’t think he’s that kind of guy, you know what I mean? I just don’t think he’s wired that way,” she explained. “Jeff Zucker, he was my boss at NBC and then when I was at CNN … I just think Jeff and Anderson aren’t really those type of guys.”
“I don’t think [Cooper] has any interest in it,” she added. “After going through something like this, I’m like done chasing people. I’m down to three friends on a good day. I just want to go where I can make people laugh.”
RELATED: Where Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper’s Relationship Stands Today: ‘I’m Done Chasing People’
Earlier this year, when she was asked about Cooper during a Variety interview in March, Griffin said she “was devastated” over their friendship abruptly ending.
“It still hurts. I mean, I really loved him,” she said at the time. “I don’t have a punchline for that one.”
