Anderson Cooper moved to tears in emotional discussion about grief with Stephen Colbert

'It's a gift to exist, and with existence comes suffering,' says Colbert

Anderson Cooper was moved to tears during a conversation about grief with Stephen Colbert.

Colbert appeared on CNN for an interview on Anderson Cooper 360° on Thursday.

Cooper, whose mother Gloria Vanderbilt died in June, brought up the topic of loss and adversity.

“You told an interviewer that you have learned to love the things that you most wish had not happened,“ Cooper said.

Choking up, the TV host added: “You went on to say, ‘What punishments of God are not gifts?’ Do you really believe that?“

Colbert thought for a couple of seconds before responding: “Yes. It’s a gift to exist, and with existence comes suffering. There’s no escaping that.“

The late-night host lost his father, James William Colbert Jr, to a plane crash in 1973, when he was 10 years old.

He told Cooper that having experienced an early loss eventually served him later in life.

“At a young age, I suffered something so that by the time that I was in serious relationships in my life, with friends, or with my wife or with my children, is that I have some understanding that everybody is suffering,“ he said.

“And however imperfectly, acknowledge their suffering and to connect with them and to love them in a deep way that not only accepts that all of us suffer, but also that makes you grateful for the fact that you have suffered so that you can know that about other people.”

Cooper, whose older brother died by suicide in 1988 when Cooper was 21, in turn explained that his mother always approached personal difficulties wondering not “Why me?“ but instead asking “Why not me?“ – saying this approach has helped him personally.