ANDERSON COOPER

That's the thing about suicide. Try as you might to remember how a person lived his life, you always end up thinking about how he ended it.

The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn't be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.

I can begin to understand how anchor monsters are made. If you're not careful, you can become used to being treated as though you're special and begin to expect it.

I am sort of drawn toward places in the world where there is struggle and conflict.

I think it's a good thing that there are bloggers out there watching very closely and holding people accountable. Everyone in the news should be able to hold up to that kind of scrutiny. I'm for as much transparency in the newsgathering process as possible.

The world reacts very strangely to people they see on TV, and I can begin to understand how anchor monsters are made. If you're not careful, you can become used to being treated as though you're special and begin to expect it. For a reporter, that's the kiss of death.

I've always loved reporting from the field most of all. There's something about doing live TV and being there as it happens that's always appealed to me. I think there's great value to bearing witness to these events as they're actually happening.

When I was younger, I talked to the adults around me that I respected most about how they got where they were, and none of them plotted a course they could have predicted, so it seemed a waste of time to plan too long-term. Since then, I've always gone on my instincts.

If you learn the language of loss early, I think you seek out others who have experienced the same thing, who speak that same language of loss.

I don't have much experience, but the few times when I would go on a date with a girl - like when I was 12 - there was a lot of sharing, and a lot of talking, and a lot of asking how I am. They thought we were dating, and I was sort of hoping to meet their brothers.

Our skin is very thin. It doesn't take much for us to jump off a ledge or to kill one another. It can happen very, very quickly.

When a big event happens, people turn on to CNN, not only because they know there will be people there covering an event on the ground, but because they know we're going to cover it in a way that's non-partisan, that's not left or right.

I've always giggled like a 13-year-old girl at a Justin Bieber meet and greet. There's nothing I can do about it but I've never not been able to stop.

I think you have to be yourself, and you have to be real and you have to admit what you don't know, and talk about what you do know, and talk about what you don't know as long as you say you don't know it.

I understand why people might be interested. But I just don't talk about my personal life. It's a decision I made a long time ago, before I ever even knew anyone would be interested in my personal life.

If someone knows me and likes me or my work, they're more likely to allow me to tell their story. But it also cuts the other way.

If you feel like an outsider, you tend to observe things a lot more.

I think the notion of traditional anchor is fading away - the all-knowing, all-seeing person who speaks from on high. I don't think the audience really buys that anymore. As a viewer, I know I don't buy it.

Obviously I was well aware that I had what people consider a privileged upbringing. My mom was never a bake-cookies sort of mom. I really had no reins whatsoever.

The whole celebrity culture thing - I'm fascinated by, and repelled by, and yet I end up knowing about it.

If I'm hip, we've got a problem in this country. I really shouldn't be held up as any model of hipness. If anything, I think I'm sort of old school in my approach to objective reporting and not wearing my opinion on my sleeve. There's a lot of that in American TV news these days. Too much, in fact.

Anyone who says they're not afraid at the time of a hurricane is either a fool or a liar, or a little bit of both.

I've been addicted to TV since I emerged from the womb.

I tend to relate more to people on television who are just themselves, for good or for bad, than I do to someone who I believe is putting on some sort of persona. The anchorman on 'The Simpsons' is a reasonable facsimile of some anchors who have that problem.

If I end up hosting 'Joker's Wild,' please shoot me.