Anderson Cooper’s voice cracked. He looked down, paused and tried again. After 20 years on “60 Minutes,” the veteran journalist could not get through the four words he had spoken at the end of nearly every report he had ever filed for the program: “I’m Anderson Cooper.”
Cooper, 58, signed off the CBS newsmagazine for the final time Sunday, May 17, 2026, capping the Season 58 finale with an emotional farewell that aired in an extended “60 Minutes: Overtime” segment released online. He repeated the sign-off three times, a long-running tradition on the show, fighting back tears each time before finally walking off set as the crew applauded.
His final on-air report — a piece about London cabs and self-driving cars — gave little hint of the rawness that would follow in the companion interview, in which Cooper reflected on two decades of work that had become, by his own account, impossible to sustain alongside his nightly anchor duties at CNN.
“Wow, it’s been a hell of a ride,” Cooper said at the open of the segment, when an interviewer reminded him how long he had been with the program.
A Full-Circle Arrival in 2006
Cooper joined “60 Minutes” in 2006 as a correspondent, a role he balanced with hosting “Anderson Cooper 360°” on CNN, where he remains. The newsmagazine had been a fixture in his life long before he ever appeared on it. He first began watching after his father died, he said, describing himself as “a weird little kid” who liked the news.
Landing the job, he said, felt surreal. He recalled that he “could not believe” he had made it onto the show, and he spoke fondly of the predecessors whose names defined the program. After legendary correspondent Bob Simon died in 2015, Cooper was given his office. He still keeps a bottle of scotch Simon left behind.
The Overtime segment cut between Cooper’s commentary and clips of his most memorable assignments — interviews with Prince Harry, the late actor Donald Sutherland and singer Lady Gaga, among the celebrities, lawmakers and business moguls he sat across from over the years. But Cooper said the stories that stayed with him most involved ordinary people, particularly those he met while reporting across Africa.
The Toll of Two Jobs
What had begun as a dream gig had also, increasingly, become a grind. Cooper said his CNN obligations left him to chase “60 Minutes” stories on weekends and during vacation.
“CNN doesn’t like it if I take a lot of time off to work on a ’60 Minutes’ piece, so I’ve worked mostly for ’60 Minutes’ on weekends,” he said. “My vacation time at CNN has been working on ’60 Minutes’ pieces, and I’ve loved it, but it’s been tough.”
The pull at home eventually proved decisive. Cooper coparents his sons Wyatt, 6, and Sebastian, 4, with his ex Benjamin Maisani, and he said the boys’ ages — and the narrowing window before they would stop wanting his company — drove his decision to step away. He told the show that he hopes “60 Minutes” is still around when his children grow up and have kids of their own.
His exit was not entirely unexpected inside the industry. Cooper turned down an offer to remain at the program in February, as Breaker’s Lachlan Cartwright first reported.
A Departure Amid Turbulence at CBS
Cooper leaves during one of the most volatile stretches in CBS News’ recent history. The network has weathered a string of editorial departures and on-air shake-ups, including at “60 Minutes,” following the arrival of Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief after parent company Paramount merged with Skydance.
Cooper, without naming the upheaval directly, used part of his farewell to advocate for the program’s future. He described “60 Minutes” as “trusted” and “hard-hitting,” and said he hoped the broadcast would remain itself even as it evolved. Few programs, he noted, had lasted as long while preserving the same standard.
The Final Sign-Off
In the closing minutes of the Overtime segment, a montage of predecessors’ sign-offs played — the familiar cadence of correspondents past, each closing with their own name. Then it was Cooper’s turn.
He attempted the line several times. His voice caught. He looked down, took the better part of a minute to collect himself and tried again. On the third attempt, he made it through, then turned and walked off the set to applause from the crew that had built his stories alongside him for two decades.
Cooper will continue anchoring “Anderson Cooper 360°” on CNN. But the Sunday clock — the one whose ticking opened every broadcast he ever appeared on — has, for him, run out.