Anderson Cooper is now a New Year’s Eve staple, but he actually hated the holiday for years.

During the broadcast on Tuesday, December 31st, from New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen On CNN, Cooper, 57, revealed the personal reason for his previous feelings about New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Ahead of the show’s In Memoriam segment, the journalist said that New Year’s Eve was “a night that has always been tough” for him.

“Tonight there are a lot of people watching who maybe aren’t at a party… maybe you’re alone or just with someone else you love, in your room or all alone,” he began.

Cooper continued: “I just want to say that New Year’s Eve is a night that has always been hard for me. My father died five days after New Year’s, he died on January 5, 1978. And I remember being 10 years old and watching the New Year’s Eve celebrations five days before his death, he was full of fear and feeling very alone.

Cooper’s father died as a result of complications from surgery. In a 2023 essay for CNN, Cooper said that although he suffered several major losses in his life, he had “never really grieved” until he dedicated an entire season to it Everything there is Grief podcast.

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The 60 minutes The correspondent further shared that he initially started working on the holidays “because I hated New Year’s Eve because of it and I just wanted to work on it.”

Cooper hosted New Year Live since 2002, and he has “enjoyed” the annual event more and more.

“I enjoyed being with Andy. And I also enjoyed being with all of you who may be watching alone or grieving and not looking forward to the new year or not having a good year,” he said.

“And I just want you to know that in all this hilarity and this rain…you’re not alone tonight,” Anderson concluded. “I am with you, we are with you. We see you and we welcome you and we are happy that you are spending the night with us.”