Personal Life
At 17 years old, Vanderbilt went to Hollywood where she married agent Pasquale ("Pat") DiCicco in 1941; they divorced in 1945.
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 as his mother tried in vain to stop him. Vanderbilt believed that it was caused by a psychotic episode induced by an allergy to the anti-asthma medical prescription drug Proventil.
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.
Vanderbilt is very close friends with comedienne Kathy Griffin, and while appearing as a guest on her son Anderson Cooper's talk show, Anderson on September 19, 2011, referred to Griffin as her "fantasy daughter." Kathy refers to Gloria as "Glo", as did her third husband, Lumet.
Read more about this topic: Gloria Vanderbilt
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