Anderson Cooper Opens Up About Brother’s Suicide; Speculates On Why Russell Armstrong Killed Himself
Feb. 16 2021, Updated 4:28 p.m. ET
By Adam S. Levy - Breaking Celebrity News Staff Writer
Ace journalist Anderson Cooper, promoting his new syndicated daytime talk show Anderson, opened up his brother's suicide in a conference call Wednesday discussing an interview he recently conducted with cast members of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, themselves still reeling from last month's suicide of their cast mate Russell Armstrong.
Listen! 'RHOP' star Wendy Osefo breaks down the “most intense fight in the show's history” in under 2 minutes.
Cooper reiterated the chat with the ‘Housewives’ was not intended as a ratings-grabber, as the interview was "something we had booked months ago... I thought frankly they were going to cancel, and they didn’t."
Cooper said he and the cast spent "probably half the show talking about Russell’s suicide and whether or not the show should be on the air at all, and whether they bear any responsibility or that reality TV bears any responsibility in what happened to him."
The issue hits close to home for Cooper, who said he continues to ponder the motivation behind his brother Carter’s 1988 suicide at just 23 (his late older brother jumped to his death from the 14th-floor terrace of a New York City penthouse).
"I had a brother that committed suicide and that was more than twenty years ago and I’m still trying to figure out why he committed suicide," Cooper said. "I think anyone who survives suicide, that’s one of the horrible things about it, you