Andy Cohen

Andrew Joseph Cohen was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and was raised in the suburb of Clayton in a Jewish-American family. His parents were Lou and Evelyn Cohen, and his sister is Emily Rosenfeld. He graduated from Clayton High School in 1986 and studied broadcast journalism at Boston University.

Cohen developed an early interest in television and celebrity culture, including a strong attachment to the soap opera All My Children. While he was a journalism student in 1987, he persuaded Susan Lucci to give him an interview in New York. He also wrote for Boston University's student newspaper, The Daily Free Press.

After graduating from Boston University in 1990, Cohen began working at CBS News as a news clerk assigned to CBS This Morning. He spent 10 years at the network, becoming a producer on CBS This Morning and 48 Hours, and later serving as senior producer of The Early Show.

Cohen joined the cable network Trio in 2000 and moved to Bravo in 2004, when NBCUniversal acquired Trio. At Bravo, he became vice president of original programming and helped develop the unscripted programming slate that included Project Runway, Top Chef, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, and The Real Housewives.

Cohen helped develop The Real Housewives franchise beginning with The Real Housewives of Orange County in 2006. He later became the host of the franchise's reunion shows, interviewing cast members and revisiting the major events of each season. He has also served as an executive producer across the franchise.

His Bravo career combined programming management, production, and on-camera work. He stepped down from his executive role to focus on producing and hosting, while continuing his association with the network's major reality and competition series. He received a Primetime Emmy Award for Top Chef in 2010.

In 2009, Cohen began hosting Watch What Happens Live, a weekly midnight talk show on Bravo that later became a weeknight series. The live, interactive program is built around celebrity interviews, audience participation, and discussion of popular culture. Cohen serves as both host and executive producer.

Cohen came out while he was attending Boston University. Through Watch What Happens Live, he became the first openly gay man to host a late-night television talk show. GLAAD honored him with the Vito Russo Award in 2019, and he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2022.

SiriusXM launched Radio Andy, a channel curated by Cohen, in 2015. The channel includes programs hosted by Cohen and other presenters, along with live-audience town halls and special broadcasts. Bravo also identifies Andy Cohen's Kiki Lounge as one of his personally curated SiriusXM channels.

Cohen's books include Most Talkative: Stories from the Front Lines of Pop Culture (2012), The Andy Cohen Diaries: A Deep Look at a Shallow Year (2014), and Superficial: More Adventures from the Andy Cohen Diaries (2016). He also founded the Andy Cohen Books imprint with Henry Holt and Company. His memoirs became New York Times best sellers, and he is credited by Bravo as a five-time New York Times best-selling author.

Cohen and Anderson Cooper developed the touring stage show AC2: An Intimate Evening with Anderson Cooper & Andy Cohen. The idea followed an event at New York's 92nd Street Y where Cooper interviewed Cohen about The Andy Cohen Diaries. The two later took their conversational show to live audiences across the United States.

Cohen and Cooper have also co-hosted CNN's annual New Year's Eve Live coverage since the 2017-18 special. Their professional association extends to radio and television appearances, including discussions of Cooper's public coming out.

Cohen became a father through surrogacy in 2019, when his son Benjamin Allen Cohen was born. His daughter, Lucy Cohen, was born through surrogacy in 2022. He has spoken about becoming a parent as a gay man after once believing that having a family might not be possible for him.

Cohen has been dating businessman Kevin Sobieski since 2025. He is also an avid fan of the Grateful Dead and has been friends with musician John Mayer. Cohen supports the St. Louis Cardinals, the baseball team associated with his hometown.