Gloria Laura Vanderbilt (born February 20, 1924) is an American artist, author, actress, heiress and socialite, noted as an early developer of designer blue jeans. She is a member of the Vanderbilt family of New York and the mother of CNN television anchor Anderson Cooper.

Biographie

Vanderbilt was raised Roman Catholic and as a child was particularly fascinated with St. Theresa. Although religious in her youth, she no longer practices Catholicism and identifies more with a Zen Buddhism ideology.

At 17 years old, Vanderbilt went to Hollywood where she married agent Pat DiCicco in 1941; they divorced in 1945. DiCicco proved to be temperamental and an abusive husband who called her 'Fatsy Roo' and beat her. 'He would take my head and bang it against the wall,' Vanderbilt said. 'I had black eyes.'

Her second marriage, to conductor Leopold Stokowski in April 1945, produced two sons, Leopold Stanislaus "Stan" Stokowski, born August 22, 1950 and Christopher Stokowski, born January 31, 1952; they divorced in October 1955.

On August 28, 1956, she married director Sidney Lumet; they divorced in August 1963.

She married her fourth husband, author Wyatt Emory Cooper on December 24, 1963. They had two sons: Carter Vanderbilt Cooper (January 27, 1965 – July 22, 1988) and CNN news anchor Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967). Wyatt Cooper died in 1978 during open heart surgery in New York City. Carter Cooper committed suicide at the age of 23 by jumping from the family's 14th-floor apartment.

She has three grandchildren by her eldest son, Stan: Aurora (born in March 1983) and Abra (born in February 1985), both to author Ivy Strick, and Myles (born in 1998) to artist Emily Goldstein.

She maintained a romantic relationship with photographer and filmmaker Gordon Parks for many years until his death in 2006. Other notable lovers have included Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Howard Hughes, and Roald Dahl. Truman Capote was said to have modeled the character of Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's on her, but others say it was based on her friend Carol Grace.

Vanderbilt is very close friends with fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg and comedian Kathy Griffin. While appearing as a guest on her son Anderson Cooper's television talk show, Anderson on September 19, 2011, Vanderbilt referred to Griffin as her "fantasy daughter".

When Vanderbilt celebrated her 90th birthday on February 20, 2014, her collections of many drawings, paintings and collectibles were placed on display in the 1stdibs Gallery at New York Design Center in New York City.