Andy Cohen, a long time friend of Anderson for 20 years was co-hosting Anderson Cooper's "Anderson Live" on Thursday.

Andy asked him how Anderson felt about publicly admitting he was gay. Anderson responded that he was "pleased with the response" from his family and friends and being homosexual is "nothing to be ashamed of". A person's sexual orientation and their "coming out" should not result in the dehumanization or devaluation of the person. The renowned public figure gracefully stated the obvious effort of Star Jones to increase ratings and publicity.

"I seem to recall her hocking her wedding every single day to get free products when she was on The View," he commented about disingenuous Star Jones. "I seem to recall her lying about her gastric bypass surgery and making everybody else lie about it as well. So for her to suddenly emerge out of the shadows and suddenly attack me for this, I couldn't believe it." "I don't even want to give Star Jones the attention," Cooper continued. "We invited Star Jones to come on this show and she turned us down." Anderson said he was unsurprised at the scheme given her history of "lying" and "pretension for wanting publicity". He was actually talking about inviting her to the show before any of this controversy came out.

Anderson reminds the audience of the importance of not living to please people or live in a simulated construction in which one projects a dishonest projection of oneself. He encourages the viewers that his decision to come out was crucial in "sending a message to young people" because "there's nothing to be ashamed of and you can be successful and you can have a life and you can have many interests and this one part of your life." Regardless of the decision one makes to come out or not, Anderson elucidates that that should not be motivated by potential ratings.