For two decades, the steady, rhythmic ticking of the 60 Minutes stopwatch has been the soundtrack to Sunday nights for millions of Americans. But on May 17, that clock took on a deeply personal, far more urgent meaning for Anderson Cooper.
In an emotional final broadcast, the 58-year-old veteran journalist officially said goodbye to the prestigious CBS newsmagazine, marking the end of a remarkable 20-year run. It was a departure three months in the making, sparked by a realization that every parent eventually faces: time is a finite resource, and it moves far too fast.
“I don’t think the reality has really hit me that I’m not gonna be doing this any longer,” Cooper admitted during a poignant 60 Minutes Overtime segment shared on YouTube. Looking visibly moved, he struggled to deliver his signature sign-off one last time. “To give up something that you’ve watched since you were a kid, yeah, I will miss this.”
The Cost of the Daily Grind
Cooper’s tenure at 60 Minutes, which began during the 2006–2007 television season, made him one of the rare titans in modern media to hold major, simultaneous roles on both cable and network television. For years, his “vacation time” away from his nightly CNN anchor chair wasn’t spent on a beach; it was spent chasing stories for CBS.
“My vacation time at CNN has been working on 60 Minutes pieces, and I’ve loved it,” Cooper reflected. “But it’s been tough. I always imagined like, ‘OK, when I don’t want to be in the daily-news grind, I’d love to just tell 60 Minutes stories.'”
But life has a way of rewriting the script. The arrival of his children—Wyatt, now 6, and Sebastian, 4, whom he shares with his ex, Benjamin Maisani—fundamentally shifted his priorities.
The turning point came on a shoot in South Africa. While on assignment, a fellow 60 Minutes colleague shared a bittersweet memory about the very last time his own son allowed him to hold his hand on the walk to school.
The story struck a nerve.
“I almost started to cry when he told me that because I’m in South Africa and my kid is going to school that day and I’m not there,” Cooper recalled. “I’ve got a 4-year-old and a just-now 6-year-old. And I want to spend as much time with them as I can while they still want to spend time with me. And those days, that clock is ticking, I think.”
It’s a sentiment he first voiced back in February when he formally announced his departure, stating that while the role was “one of the great honors of my career,” balancing two media empires was no longer compatible with being the father he wanted to be.
Crocodiles, Jet Skis, and a Legacy of Trust
While Cooper is stepping back from CBS, he isn’t disappearing from the airwaves entirely. He remains firmly entrenched at CNN, having renewed his contract in December 2025 to continue anchoring Anderson Cooper 360° and co-hosting the network’s annual, irreverent New Year’s Eve special alongside Andy Cohen.
His exit from 60 Minutes leaves behind a treasure trove of unforgettable television. Looking back on his favorite moments, Cooper fondly recalled the sheer variety of the gig—from the genuinely perilous assignments, like diving into deep waters to look crocodiles in the eye, to the bizarrely hazardous, like briefly losing his eyesight after a jet-skiing mishap while reporting a story in Portugal.
Yet, beyond the adrenaline-pumping assignments, Cooper emphasized that the true magic of the broadcast lies in its integrity.
“There are very few things that have been around as long as 60 Minutes has and maintained the quality that it has,” Cooper said, offering his hopes for the show’s future. “Things can always evolve and change, and I think that’s awesome… But I hope the core of what 60 Minutes is always remains. I think the independence of 60 Minutes has been critical. And I think the trust it has with viewers is critical to the success.”
Winds of Change at CBS
Cooper’s departure marks the end of an era, but it also comes at a time of profound transition and institutional upheaval for CBS News.
The corporate landscape shifted dramatically in October 2025 when Paramount Skydance acquired the news and opinion platform The Free Press, subsequently appointing its founder, Bari Weiss, as the editor-in-chief of CBS News. Weiss has already made waves in her short tenure, generating significant industry headlines after pulling a controversial 60 Minutes segment titled “Inside CECOT.”
Simultaneously, the broadcast is adjusting to a changing of the guard behind the cameras. Longtime executive producer Bill Owens stepped away from the newsmagazine in April 2025. His exit followed a bruising legal battle with President Donald Trump, who sued the network over the editing of an interview with Kamala Harris. Paramount ultimately opted to pay a staggering $16 million settlement to resolve the lawsuit, notably doing so without an admission of wrongdoing.
A Final Sign-Off
Amid the corporate noise and the changing tides of network news, Sunday night belonged strictly to the journalism—and the man who lived it.
To close out his final segment, Cooper attempted to deliver his trademark sign-off. Overcome with emotion, he paused, took a long, heavy breath, and had to try three times before he could finally find the composure to say those four iconic words for the very last time on the broadcast:
“I’m Anderson Cooper.”