Anderson Cooper Admits He Finds New Year's Eve 'Dreadful' Ahead of Annual CNN Special

Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen are preparing to ring in the new year together for the ninth year in a row!

Ahead of the New Year’s 2026 festivities, the duo sat down for an interview with Parade, where the 58-year-old CNN journalist revealed how he really feels about the holiday.

Keep reading to find out more…

“I find New Year’s Eve, especially in New York, to be just a dreadful evening,” Anderson revealed. “I think the best thing you can do is stay at home and watch stuff on television, because it’s just you can’t get an Uber and people are drunk. And it’s often raining and cold. I always wanted to just ignore it and escape it.”

Given his outlook on New Year’s Eve, it makes sense that he would prefer to provide viewers at home with something fun to watch.

When asked how the co-hosts spent New Year’s before they began co-hosting CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live special, Andy revealed that he used to “party it up.”

“I would party it up and he would look for a hole to climb in,” the Real Housewives host said. “But [Anderson] has been doing this on CNN for like, 19 years, so…”

“Almost 20. I initially did it all by myself because it was just like doing a lot of live shots for CNN. And no one else wanted to work on New Year’s Eve. So I thought, “Yeah, I’ll work on New Year’s Eve. That’s the perfect solution,” Anderson chimed in.

If you like having multiple options to watch on New Year’s, check out the full line-up for New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2026!