Anderson Cooper spoke with Megan Falley, the widow of the late poet laureate Andrea Gibson, who passed away earlier this year, on his show All There Is Live with Anderson Cooper. During his conversation with the author, the CNN anchor commented on Falley's decision to say that Gibson "allegedly" died, saying that he "kind of loves" that.
"It felt so weird to talk with such certainty, to say 'Andrea died' as if any of us know what that means," she said. "We actually don't know what it means." Gibson and Falley served as the subjects of the recently released Apple TV+ documentary called Come See Me in the Good Light, which followed the couple after Gibson was diagnosed with incurable ovarian cancer.
Her sentiment struck Cooper, who lost his mother in 2019, and he started to tear up in the middle of her explanation. "It's true," he said.
"I had felt so many, sort of, signs and communications that it just didn't feel right — and it still doesn't — to say 'Andrea died.' So I love saying that Andrea 'allegedly died,'" she went on to say. "Language is very important to me, so I feel like if something's not quite right, I'm going to make whatever adjustments I need. I invite you to try it, Anderson." At this point, Cooper takes off his glasses and wipes away tears as she finishes her statement.
"I'm crying because what you said is so unique and, I think, true," the anchor told Falley. "Yeah, we have no idea what this means."
Cooper is no stranger to grief, given that in addition to his mother, he also lost his father when he was 10 years old during an open-heart surgery, and his brother, who died by suicide when Cooper was 20. Since 2022, he's invited guests on his show to talk about death and grieving.
