All There Is with Anderson Cooper (CNN)

In this special episode of the podcast, Anderson reports from Rome following the death of Pope Francis, and speaks to religion professor Elaine Pagels who lost both her 6-year-old son Mark and her husband Heinz. Visit the All There Is online grief community at cnn.com/allthereisonline and watch the video version on YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Molly Shannon was four, her mother, baby sister and cousin were killed in a car crash. Her father was at the wheel. Growing up, few people ever spoke with her about her grief. She and Anderson explore how early loss shaped both their lives, and propelled them forward in unexpected ways. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before they co-founded one of the most successful rock bands in history, Alex and Eddie Van Halen were two kid brothers with a love of music. In an emotional, and musically rich interview, Alex talks about Eddie’s life and death and the communication he feels he still has with him. Alex also plays some of the unreleased music they were working on before his brother’s death in 2020. Visit the All There Is online grief community at cnn.com/allthereisonline and watch the video version on YouTube.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anderson checks in with an update about the podcast and invites listeners to call the All There Is voicemail.    Visit the All There Is online grief community at cnn.com/allthereisonline   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whoopi Goldberg sits down with Anderson for a candid and moving conversation about the life and deaths of her mother Emma Johnson and her brother Clyde. Visit the All There Is online grief community at cnn.com/allthereisonline and watch the video version on YouTube. Help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters. In the US: Call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Globally: The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide have contact information for crisis centers around the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anderson Cooper takes us on a deeply personal exploration of loss and grief. He starts recording while packing up the apartment of his late mother Gloria Vanderbilt. Going through her journals and keepsakes, as well as things left behind by his father and brother, Cooper begins a series of emotional and moving conversations about the people we lose, the things they leave behind, and how to live on - with loss, with laughter, and with love.    To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anderson is pleased to present the first episode of Audie Cornish's new podcast: The Assignment... but first a conversation on the intimacy of podcasting with Audie and Anderson. Fiery Twitter threads and endless news notifications never capture the full story. Each week on The Assignment, host Audie Cornish pulls listeners out of their digital echo chambers to hear from the people who live the headlines. From the sex work economy to the battle over what’s taught in classrooms, no topic is off the table. You can find The Assignment wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Grief doesn’t just go away, no matter how hard we may want it to. So how can we live with it and learn from it? These are the questions Anderson Cooper struggles to answer after the first season of All There Is ends. Anderson spends months playing more than 1000 unheard voicemail messages about grief from podcast listeners, and once again finds himself in his basement surrounded by boxes, full of letters, photos and objects that belonged to his late father, mother, and brother. He also talks with psychotherapist and author Francis Weller, whose book “The Wild Edge of Sorrow” gives him hope. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“You gotta come home, there's been an accident.” It was 1972 when Joe Biden heard the news that changed his life forever: his wife Neilia and 13-month-old daughter Naomi were killed in a car crash. Decades later his beloved son Beau died of cancer. In this deeply personal interview President Biden reveals how he has found solace in his grief and learned to search for purpose beyond his pain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Katie Talman, was grieving an unimaginable loss when she left a message for Anderson Cooper, one of more than a thousand voicemails he received from podcast listeners. Anderson called Katie back at her home in Texas and she agreed to share her story. When Katie was 23 weeks pregnant, her daughter Everly died. “Nothing could have prepared me to deliver a stillborn baby,” Katie says. The grief over her daughter’s death, the silence in the delivery room, the inability of some in her life to understand or even acknowledge the depth of her pain - Katie and Everly’s story is a moving testament to a family’s love and a mom’s courage in the face of the greatest loss.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Grief never goes away but we can learn to live with it and learn from it. In Season 3 of All There Is, Anderson Cooper continues his deeply personal journey to understand his own feelings of grief in all its complexities, and in moving and honest discussions, learn from others who’ve experienced life-altering losses. All There Is with Anderson Cooper is about the people we lose, the people left behind, and how we can live on – with loss and with love. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Artist and composer Laurie Anderson reflects on the death of her husband, rock legend Lou Reed and also her beloved dog Lolabelle. She talks with Anderson about grief and the unexpected feelings she has experienced surrounding loss. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

David and his sister Amy Sedaris have lived through the deaths of their mother, father and sister, and most recently, Amy’s pet rabbit. They join Anderson for a heartfelt, and at times irreverently funny, conversation about loss and grief.  Visit the All There Is online grief community at cnn.com/allthereisonline and watch the video version on YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pulitzer Prize winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin knows what it’s like to face the past. She talks with Anderson about how Abraham Lincoln and other historic figures dealt with grief, and how she has. She went through boxes of papers and mementos with her husband Dick Goodwin before he died and it changed both of their lives in ways she never expected. Visit the All There Is online grief community at cnn.com/allthereisonline and watch the video version on YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the season three finale, Anderson plays some of the more than 6000 voicemails he has received from podcast listeners about what they have learned in their grief that might help others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anderson shares poignant and profound messages from listeners and reflects on the conversations he's had during the first season of the podcast. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this deeply personal episode, Anderson reflects on the suicide of his brother, Carter, and the impact that loss still has on his life today. Anderson is joined by Dr. BJ Miller, a hospice and palliative care physician whose sister, Lisa, died by suicide. BJ brings exceptional wisdom to a difficult conversation and suggests some surprising ways to think about sadness and grief. This episode contains discussions of suicide. If you or someone you love is struggling, call the national suicide and crisis lifeline at 988. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Do we ever move on from grief, or do we just learn to live with it? In Season 2 of All There Is, Anderson Cooper continues his deeply personal journey to understand his own feelings of grief in all its complexities, and in moving and honest discussions, learn from others who’ve experienced life-altering losses. All There Is with Anderson Cooper is about the people we lose, the people left behind, and how we can live on – with loss and with love. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Filmmaker Kirsten Johnson lost her mother to Alzheimer's in 2007, now her father has dementia, and is disappearing before her eyes. As Kirsten struggles with grief over the inevitable loss of her father, she finds ways to celebrate his life and get closer to him. She tells Anderson it's never too late to get to know someone you love more deeply even after they are gone. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alone in his late mother, Gloria Vanderbilt’s apartment, Anderson begins recording his thoughts and memories as he packs up her things. He makes some unexpected discoveries while sorting through boxes of love letters, journals, and cherished keepsakes. Feeling isolated and alone in his grief, Anderson reaches out to a close friend of his mother, who joins him to share insights about her and suggestions about what to do with the things she left behind. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Can we learn to love the things we most wish had never happened? Can we really become grateful for grief? Heartbreak? The deaths of loved ones? Stephen Colbert believes we can, and sits down with Anderson to explain why and how. It is a deeply moving, thought-provoking, and at times funny conversation that Anderson says has had a major impact on his life. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The podcast is taking a short break, new episodes of All There Is will return January 10th. In the meantime, we are sharing Anderson's powerful conversation with Stephen Colbert from the first season of the podcast. Can we learn to love the things we most wish had never happened? Can we really become grateful for grief? Heartbreak? The deaths of loved ones? Stephen believes we can and explains why and how. It is a deeply moving, thought-provoking, and at times funny conversation that Anderson says has had a major impact on his life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Naomi Judd died by suicide in 2022, after a long struggle with mental illness, her daughter Ashley found her. In this deeply moving, revealing, and insightful conversation Ashley Judd talks about the trauma she has worked hard to face, the grief she now feels, and how her mother’s spirit is still very much alive in her life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When best-selling author Nicole Chung’s adoptive parents died, she felt all alone. Her family had unraveled, and there was no one else who remembered what she was like as a little girl. Nicole speaks with Anderson about carrying her parents’ memories alone and the search for her birth parents, which led to a series of surprising discoveries. You can call and leave a message at: (917) 727-6818. We'd especially like to hear if there's something that you've learned in your grief that might help others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shamayim Harris, known in Detroit as Mama Shu, knows all too well the pain of loss. In 2007 her 2-year-old son Jakobi Ra was killed in a hit and run accident, and in 2021 her other son Chinyelu was murdered. Mama Shu talks with Anderson about how she worked hard to, in her words, “turn my grief into glory and my loss into love.” Focusing on one block in her neighborhood, she began cleaning up blighted properties and has created the non-profit Avalon Village, which aims to be a safe and welcoming space for kids in her community. “This is grief,” she tells Anderson, “it just looks beautiful.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Charlie Shelin was an exceptionally bright child who worked hard for years to keep the dark thoughts in his head from consuming him. In this moving conversation, his dad, Randy, talks with Anderson about Charlie’s mental health struggles and the layers of grief their family has lived with for years.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amanda Petrusich, a talented writer for The New Yorker who often covers music, lost her husband, Bret Stetka, suddenly in 2022. Their daughter, Nico, was just 13 months old. Amanda talks with Anderson about grieving an unexpected loss, while navigating life as a single parent. They also explore the constantly changing nature of grief, the role music has played for Amanda and how she talks about Bret with her daughter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode, the season finale, is a reminder that none of us is alone in our grief. Anderson shares some of the thousands of extraordinarily moving voicemail messages he’s received from listeners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Andrew Garfield's mother Lynne died from pancreatic cancer in 2019. In this deeply moving and emotional episode Andrew talks with Anderson about how grief is now the only way for him to feel close to his mom again. “The wound is the only route to the gift,” Andrew says. “The grief and the loss are the only route to the vitality of being alive.” Visit the All There Is online grief community at cnn.com/allthereisonline and watch the video version on YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

America knew actor Christopher Reeve as Superman, but to Will Reeve, now an ABC News correspondent, he was “Dad.” Will was 12 years old when his father died in 2004, and then in 2006 his mom Dana Reeve also died. Will sits down with Anderson to share what he calls his “long journey into grief.”  Visit the All There Is online grief community at cnn.com/allthereisonline and watch the video version on YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Author Andrew Sullivan grew up in Britain seeing his mom struggle with mental illness. He came to America as a young gay man and was named editor of The New Republic magazine, just as his friends began dying around him. Anderson talks with Andrew about surviving the AIDS epidemic and the complicated grief he feels following his mother’s death several months ago.  Visit the All There Is online grief community at cnn.com/allthereisonline and watch the video version on YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Naomi Judd died by suicide in 2022, after a long struggle with mental illness, her daughter Ashley found her. In this deeply moving, revealing, and insightful conversation Ashley Judd talks about the trauma she has worked hard to face, the grief she now feels, and how her mother’s spirit is still very much alive in her life. Visit the All There Is online grief community at cnn.com/allthereisonline and watch the video version on YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Writer and poet Elizabeth Alexander talks with Anderson about how she and her two children coped with the sudden death of her husband, Ficre, ten years ago, and the recent death of her father. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After suppressing grief for decades, Anderson reached out earlier this year to psychotherapist and author Francis Weller to ask for help. In this very personal conversation Anderson reveals some of what he’s learned about the strategies he developed as a child to shield himself from grief and why those strategies are now working against him. Visit the All There Is online grief community at cnn.com/allthereisonline and watch the video version on YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How do you live with loss that is beyond comprehension? When Irene Weiss was 13 years old she and her family were deported to Auschwitz. She and her older sister were the only survivors. Now 93 years old, Irene talks with Anderson about how she survived and how she has lived with grief ever since.  Visit the All There Is online grief community at cnn.com/allthereisonline and watch the video version on YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week marks 15 years since actor and filmmaker Tyler Perry lost his beloved mother, Willie Maxine Perry, at 64 years old. Tyler shares with Anderson how he’s avoided his grief by pouring himself into work, and how he is now facing the trauma of his past and the pain of his mother’s absence.     Visit the All There Is online grief community at cnn.com/allthereisonline and watch the video version on YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices