Anderson Cooper will be departing CBS News’ Sunday program 60 Minutes after a nearly 20-year run.
“For nearly twenty years, I’ve been able to balance my jobs at CNN and CBS, but I have little kids now, and I want to spend as much time with them as possible, while they still want to spend time with me,” Cooper said in a statement released on Monday. He will continue his role at CNN.
CBS News acknowledged Cooper’s departure in a statement.
“For more than two decades, Anderson Cooper has taken 60 Minutes viewers on journeys to faraway places, told us unforgettable stories, reported consequential investigations, and interviewed many prominent figures,” the news outlet told TVNewser, adding, “We’re grateful to him for dedicating so much of his life to this broadcast, and understand the importance of spending more time with family. 60 Minutes will be here if he ever wants to return.”
When Cooper joined 60 Minutes in 2006, the arrangement was for him to “contribute as many as five reports a year.” His first report for 60 Minutes in December 2006 was on Joe Darby, “the man who touched off one of the biggest news stories of the war in Iraq when he gave authorities pictures of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison.”
Cooper’s departure comes as CBS News continues to evolve under the watch of new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, who joined the news division in October 2025. Several on-air and off-air talent have left under her watch, and she has remade CBS Evening News, which Tony Dokoupil now anchors.
Weiss recently added 19 contributors to CBS News, including Peter Attia, who was found to have extensive communications with Jeffrey Epstein. She is also set to oversee another round of layoffs, which is expected to reduce CBS News’ headcount by another 15%. This comes after about a quarter of non-unionized CBS Evening News staffers accepted the buyouts the news division offered them.
