Vanderbilt, a famous model and socialite was often a subject of fascination in the worlds of fashion and media. Her son, CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper confirmed the news today via a video obituary that aired on CNN this morning (June 17).
From a young age, Vanderbilt led a tumultuous life, one marked by a heated custody battle over her and her inheritance when she was young, and filled with marriages and business ventures as she grew older. “She lived her entire life in the public eye,” Cooper said in the video.
Details + video below…
Her paternal aunt would eventually win custody over the girl and her share in the trust. The trial around who would take control of young Vanderbilt’s life and finances was a tabloid sensation at the time.
In the 1970s, Vanderbilt was among the first to grab hold of the designer jeans craze, launching a line with her signature stitched on to one of the back pockets.
Vanderbilt would go on to launch lines of dresses, perfumes, dresses, accessories – even liqueurs. She also turned to the literary world, writing novels and memoirs. In 2016, she and Cooper, the son of her fourth husband, published an account of their relationship, “The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son On Life, Love, and Loss.” A two-hour documentary produced by Liz Garbus, debuted on HBO that same year.
Vanderbilt lived a long and fruitful life. She first married in 1941 to Pat DiCicco, an agent to actors with a rough reputation. The marriage would last just four years. Within weeks of its end, she married conductor Leopold Stokowski. They had two sons, Leopold Stokowski and Christopher Stokowski, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1955. Vanderbilt was married to director Sidney Lumet between 1956 and 1963. She married author Wyatt Cooper on Christmas Eve, 1963. The marriage ended when Cooper died during surgery in 1978. The couple had two children: Anderson Cooper, and Carter Cooper, who died in 1988.
Cooper said Vanderbilt died at home surrounded by friends and family by her side. She had been suffering from advanced stomach cancer.
R.I.P. Gloria Vanderbilt.