How Did Andy Cohen Become Famous?
Bravo’s programming has become a staple in many households. What would we do without the gaggle of Real Housewives that the station has brought us?
From The Real Housewives reunions to Watch What Happens Live, Andy Cohen really knows how to spot drama and bring it out for our viewing pleasure.
But how did Cohen get to where he is today? How did he get so famous?
Early Career
What many people might not know about Cohen is that he actually started out in broadcast journalism. He graduated from Boston University with his BA in the subject. Upon his graduation, he had already held internships at St. Louis radio and TV stations.
According to his memoir Most Talkative: Stories from the Front Lines of Pop Culture, he started a job as a news clerk at CBS This Morning once he graduated college. While at CBS, he also became the producer of the newsmagazine 48 Hours. Cohen stayed at CBS for 10 years, working his way all the way up to senior producer status.
In 2000, he moved on to Trio,
Bravo
When Cohen moved to Bravo, he took on the role of Vice President of Original Programming. While in the position, he helped some Bravo staples like Top Chef and Project Runway become what they are today.
In 2005, Cohen struck gold when he brought The Real Housewives to the network. Little known fact, The Real Housewives of New York was originally called Manhattan Moms.
From director to tv personality
In 2007, something happened in Cohen’s career that catapulted him to stardom. He hosted the first The Real Housewives of Orange County reunion.
“It was a
Though Cohen felt like he was faking it, audiences truly loved watching him mediate all of the drama between the women. From there, he became a staple in The Real Housewives world.
In 2009, Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen debuted with Cohen as the host. At the time, his was especially strange because Cohen was still in his executive role at Bravo and now was also hosting a regular show.
Cohen worked in this dual role for 5 years, before finally stepping down from his executive role and hosting WWHL fulltime.
Fame
It took a while for Cohen to actually recognize that he was famous.
“You know when I became famous?” he said to Sarah Jessica Parker at the 92nd Street Y. “For real, when I figured out, ‘Oh my God, I’m actually famous’ was when Teresa pushed me.”
Cohen was referring to The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 2 reunion when Teresa Giudice pushed him out of the way during an argument with Danielle Staub.
He was on vacation when the episode aired but as soon as people watched it, he started getting calls to comment on what happened.
“When I came back into the city, I was famous,” he said.
Read more: What is Andy Cohen’s Net Worth?
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