Timing is everything: The pictures of Anderson Cooper‘s boyfriend, Ben Maisani, pressing lips with another dude surfaced just as the couple was starting their seafaring vacation in sunny Croatia.(Who knew?)
According to the National Enquirer, Coop was caught “completely off guard” and ended their rumored engagement—making Maisani walk the plank off their yacht and head back to the States.
It’s likely AC was humiliated by the photos, not Maisani’s extracurricular smooching, as the two have had some wiggle room in their relationship for quite some time. (Nothing wrong with that.)
Fortunately, fellow gorgeous fortysomething Kelly Ripa was there to console Cooper, who posted the above picture on Instagram. We feel bad for AC: He’s worked to have some privacy (Instagram photos notwithstanding), and now his romantic relationship is being thrown into the media spotlight.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
At the same time, we can’t imagine anything more fun than a post-break-up kiki aboard a yacht with AC and Kelly. We’ll bring the cheap Pinot!
Source: Scallywag and Vagabond, Photo: Anderson Cooper
hf2hvit
Oh, god…I think I’d rather have an anesthetic-free root canal
Candyass
Those pix looked too good to be unstaged. I think the ex got one big check for a full on smear campagne. He’s a blue collar AC white, the cash was probably huge in his eyes. Beggs the question, isrich boy really vetting the talent? Or is he unlucky at love?
mikeandrewsdantescove
I have a different opinion on this. Anderon always talks about “keeping them honest”. Can you imagine how hard it was for Ben before Anderon came out?
Allen
http://moveamountain13.blogspot.com/
Clay
When I was on her show and tried to shush her she pushed my hand away saying
“Who knows where that hand’s been”. What a kunt. AC find some real friends.
Sincerely, Clay Aiken
tookietookie
@Clay: You were robbed! Rubin frickin Studdard? No way!
Spike
A kiki on a yacht with AC would be MARVELOUS!
We’re gonna serve, and work and turn
And h-h-honey
Kim
BS Ben is still on cruise with AC, Kelly , Andy Cohen, and some other friends and they Were never getting married
F Stratford
Anderson should just be with me. I’m just as hot and won’t cheat on his Twinkie ass
Kiki not
Ben is NOT back in the US – who makes up these lies??
Rick
@Kiki not: @Kiki not: and how do you know this Kiki? and maybe he went to visit his relatives France (or Europe, wherever the live).
bee
Maybe AC will forgive Ben, maybe he’s already forgiven him and everything’s fine. It would have to be if he’s still on that cruise.
rrr
@mikeandrewsdantescove: There are lots of partners of celebrities who waited MANY years longer than Ben for the celebrity they were dating to come out, and Ben did this AFTER Anderson came out.
cam
Ok Give me a break. Queerty said
”
We feel bad AC, who has worked to have some privacy in his personal life (Instagram photos notwithstanding), had his romantic relationship thrown into the media spotlight.”
_____________________
No, Cooper only kept the fact that he was gay private, everything else has always been fair game for him. So please try to report correctly.
That said, now that he is out, I have sympathy for him and I feel sorry for the guy that he was ambushed like that. It would absolutly suck to find out about something like this in the pages of a magazine.
LotusSutra
You have a partner who is VERY much in the public eye not to mention heir to the Vanderbilt fortune, living in HIS house and your in the midst of planning your WEDDING and your busted making out in PUBLIC with another man? Even if they had an “Open Relationship” did you not think the there would be repercussions? Either this person has got to be the boldest or the most stupidest man on earth…..and I go for just plain ole stupid. Come on damn Anderson is a str8 up catch, did you really have to cheat? If your not happy LEAVE!!
ned
AC needs to find someone with a bit of class.
Lee
So now you’re basing your information on reports from the National Enquirer???? You MUST be joking.
Kim
@LotusSutra: They broke up weeks ago. They are still friends. They were never engaged. National Enquirer made it up like they did with the wedding of NPH, wedding of Jim Parsons, wedding of Raven Symone . That’s the Enquirer SOP claim gay celebs are getting married.
mc
@Kim: If they broke up weeks ago, wouldn’t a simple statement from AC’s publicist have solved all this for them? AC & Ben broke up weeks ago. He’s free to canoodle with whomever he please. The end. Problem solved–nothing to see here.
Instead we get drama on the high seas, AC finding out through email about the photos, AC confronting Ben & kicking him off the cruise. We get several days of speculation on how open or closed his relationship was. We get articles linking him to promote acceptance of polyamory.
If they’d broken up weeks ago then this story would have no legs. Anyone of these ‘anonymous source’ would have been put out there to put out this fire. The fact that they haven’t probably means that they were in fact still together at the time the story broke.
Brent W.
I highly doubt that AC was caught “completely off guard” since it’s been rumored that they had an open relationship and were not monogamous to begin with.
Alan down in Florida
Didn’t I hear somewhere that AC finally came out when he did to preempt a magazine article (Vanity Fair?) with an ex-boyfriend outing him for monetary gain? If that (soon-to-be)ex-bf was Ben it would make sense that AC’s relationship would dissolve so soon after his very public coming out.
That said, I wish AC the best of luck going forward.
PeterGay
Good Bye Benjamin.
We hardly got to know you. You seemed like a sweet, nice guy — and you probably are; but you made a big mistake. We were hoping for a wedding, instead we got… something else. Good bye Benjamin, don’t forget to take your bicycle with you — we’ll miss you riding next to Anderson. I’m sure we soon will see Anderson riding his own bike next to another hunk perhaps as gorgeous or more handsome than your accomplish in crime. Check the Internet, Benjamin, I’m sure you’ll be able to see it all develop in here, just as we’ve seen and read about your naughty adventures and Anderson’s disappointment in here.
I am not a bar hopping kind of guy but I was thinking about stopping at the Eastern Block to pay you a visit, now that’s out of the question. Good luck, Benjamin, we hardly got to know you, but I think it’s better this way — not for our beloved Anderson though.
Geoff
@LotusSutra:
Copper not heir to the “Vanderbilt” fortune. His grandfather Reginald, Gloria’s father, spent all the Vanderbilt money he had (and then some) All that was left was a five million dollar trust (that Reggie couldn’t touch) that Gloria shared with her older half-sister, Catherine Connover. Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt used the income from this trust at various times for herself and to raise Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper. Source: Barbara Goldsmith; author -biography of Gloria Vandebilt
iluvcakes
Ben didn’t know what he had.. of course til it was gone. Good for you AC you’ll find someone even better I reckon
RichB in PS
I find so much of this speculation, if not an ‘interesting perspective’, what I find very difficult to wrap my mind around is the last sentence! “It’s likely AC was humiliated by the photos, not Maisani’s extracurricular smooching, as the two have had some wiggle room in their relationship for quite some time. (Nothing wrong with that.)”
Freeport
It’s not right what he did
DrewSF
This was going to happen anyway Andy’s a Vandy he’s not going to marry some barmaid like Ben!
rrr
@cam: That is untrue. You’ve been corrected on it repeatedly with the actual facts, yet you keep beating a dead falsehood for some reason. He’s remained private about a lot of things that are very fundamental to a human being, their life and their outlook. He’s avoided revealing such things as his politics and who he votes for and his stances on controversial social issues. He doesn’t mention his half brothers. The closest he’d come to sharing any information about his views on religion was in the email where he came out, and it was kept vague and non-denominational.
mk
@Geoff: Five million was a lot of money back then, and Gloria didn’t have to share it because her half sister died young. She spent the inherited money, but she earned another fortune selling jeans, housewares and a lot of other stuff. Anderson has his own fortune, though.
dvlaries
I have no idea what life is like for the non-famous half of the couples Cooper, Ethridge, DeGeneres, O’Donnell, Bass, Bomer, Navratilovra, etc. I do know that after the breakup, one rarely, if ever, hears the side of the story from the non-famous half. Maybe they value their privacy that much, and maybe they’re bribed or threatened not to give interviews.
*
Consequently I maintain a great fondness for the saying, “Private faces in public places are wiser and nicer than public faces in private places.”
*
Ben Maisani knows like none of us ever could what degree of ego and self-centeredness accompanies Andy’s handsome, world-famous face, and the difficulties of getting along with it. Thus I must abstain from attaching my sympathy to either side because I know I don’t know enough.
Steve007
Congratulations, Anderson! You are now an official queer man! Your boyfriend has left you for a younger, hotter guy and you are crying on the shoulder of your fag hag. Welcome!
Steve007
Congratulations, Anderson! You are an official gay man. Your boyfriend left you for a younger, hotter guy and you are crying on the shoulder of your fag hag. Welcome!
bee
Maybe the guy Ben allegedly left Anderson is younger, but I wouldn’t say hotter….
FunMe
@mc: “Instead we get drama on the high seas, AC finding out through email about the photos, AC confronting Ben & kicking him off the cruise.”
Well ATLANTIS CRUISES just breathed a sign of relief! It’s usually them with their drama and kicking people off cruises. LOL
DirtyOleMan
yawn
Ray
@mc are you serious? You do know how PR works right? It doesn’t matter how you explain it, there’s always another way to spin it. You’re being a bit naive in this instance. And also, why is there a need to address this at all?
Here’s all that we know: There was a picture of Ben kissing another man, with no context or as to when this actually occurred. And there are instagram pictures of Anderson and his celebrity BFFs enjoying an end-of-summer retreat. That’s all, folks.
Everything else is speculative.
I think choosing to actively not address his romantic relationships is the best course of action. Who amongst us really enjoys displaying their intimate relations to strangers?
And frankly, we should give two-shits about this… because what is there to actually care about? Am I supposed to feel sorry for the professionally successful gay man who seems to be having a wonderful time hanging out with Andy Cohen, Mark Consuelos and Kelly Ripa? Or am I supposed to sympathize with successful entrepreneur Ben Maisani kissing a good looking man? Is there an actual victim here?
What the fuck, folks?
OutMaturity
Well in the end this this story is about a relationship coming to an end and in a VERY public way. Having a relationship end is hard enough and having it happen in the press, well that must be very distressing.
Just glad that Anderson’s friends have been there for him.
OutMaturity
kayman
Yawn! Ben wasn’t all that attractive, cute maybe, but that is pushing it. Anderson will be fine in the long run and needs to do him.
On open relationships, they are always a recipe for disaster soon than later regardless of what some “committed in an open relationship” says. If you want to fuck around then do it on your own not when you are trying to drag someone else along because they love and are committed to you more than you are to them…
Hotlanta
I’m available Anderson! Call me….maybe?
Greg ferguson
Ok.
n900mixalot
*groan*
Maybe this means you vultures will get a sex tape soon too, or some frisky pics. Their intimate relations probably look like tossing Idaho potatoes in flower. Ugh, not hungry anymore. Lost me appetite. For life.
Chris
No sex tape but there IS a new Croatian video of AC, Andy Cohen, Kelly Ripa & Mark Consuelos and yes, Ben Maisani hanging out on a boat and then later waiting for a taxi. So contrary to popular belief, Ben was NOT tossed overboard when AC got wind of his little kissing indiscretion and maybe AC doesn’t care to begin with if their relationship is an open one. I guess Ben’s learned a valuable lesson about discretion and won’t make the same mistake twice.
http://dubrovniktv.net/?id=702#gVideo
Hephaestion
Anderson should find someone in a line of work that doesn’t involve alcohol & stupid people.
MoJo
Dear AC,
I do Not pretend to Know what’s going on in your personal life.
However, if you’re interested in dating an Honorable Man who’s a Respectful Top, Please don’t hesitate to contact me…
Gigi Gee
Love, love, love how people have such strong opinions on what went on between them, who told what when, who was fooling around on whom first…amazing. Relationships are hard. Period.
Imagine living your lives in the public eye with people waiting with bated breath for you to stumble so they can say: See, I told you so! I hope they both find happiness.
(Btw, I’ve been posting here for a long time but when I went to register my screen name, Gigi, it was gone. Taken by someone else…)
Gigi Gee
@Gigi Gee: 14 comments? Who’s been posting under this handle, lol!
Cam
@rrr: said.. “@cam: That is untrue. You’ve been corrected on it repeatedly with the actual facts, yet you keep beating a dead falsehood for some reason. He’s remained private about a lot of things that are very fundamental to a human being, their life and their outlook.”
_____________________
Sorry liar, but claiming that he was private about his life when he writes books about his father, his brother’s suicide, interviews about his mother etc…. are not being private. Claiming that he was private because he doesn’t talk about who he votes for is idiotic, especially since, as a reporter for CNN, he isn’t allowed to disclose due to seeming bias.
But, you know….nice try. Look, you are one of the people that used to claim he was “Out”. Funny, if he was out, that he could still officially come out isn’t it?
He is out, I feel for the guy being ambushed like this, so why not stop the little fangirl obsessive attempts to lie about him ok?
Kasnar
Boy, does AC look frosty in that pic!!!