Dad to be Andy Cohen hosts baby shower with Real Housewives
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Talk-show host Andy Cohen hosted a baby shower on Saturday that was attended by all of the Real Housewives – the hit franchise that he is an executive producer of.
The 50 year old openly gay television personality – who currently hosts Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen – announced in December on his show that he was going to be a dad.
On Saturday night, Cohen and the Real Housewives – along with John Mayer – celebrated the impending arrival of his first child at what looks like a highly extravagant baby shower.
“I’m speechless. Every Housewife, featuring @JohnMayer.”
– Andy Cohen
Cohen shared a number of photos and videos on his Instagram account of himself, John Mayer and the Real Housewives celebrating his fatherhood.
He captioned one group photo: “I’m speechless. Every Housewife, featuring @JohnMayer.”
In another photo, where Cohen is surrounded by housewives and smiles at the camera, he simply said: “Caption this, please.”
A video that has been viewed over 700,000 times posted to his Instagram account shows various famous faces from Real Housewives dancing at the party. He captioned the video. “Housewives. On. Tables. Redefining the Baby Shower in 2019.”
Real Housewives has developed a huge following since its first version of the series, called The Real Housewives of Orange County, premiered in 2006.
Since then, Real Housewives has gone to New York, Atlanta, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., among others.
Andy Cohen: ‘I am going to become a father’
Andy Cohen, who is the first openly gay host of an American late-night talk show, spoke candidly about his lifelong wish to be a dad on his show in December when he announced his news.
Speaking directly to the camera, Cohen said that having a child was “something that I have wanted in my heart my entire life.”
“Family means everything to me and having one of my own is something that I have wanted in my heart my entire life.”
– Andy Cohen
He also said that he always tries to be as “transparent as possible” about his life, and continued: “I overshare and I expect everyone around me to do the same, and tonight, I want you to be the first to know that after many years of careful deliberation, a fair amount of prayers and the benefit of science, if all goes according to plan, in about six weeks’ time I am going to become a father.”
His announcement was met with huge applause, and the Emmy Award-winning producer followed up by saying his welcome news was all “thanks to a wonderful surrogate who is carrying my future.”
“Family means everything to me and having one of my own is something that I have wanted in my heart my entire life,” Cohen said.
“And though it’s taken me longer than most to get there, I cannot wait for what I envision to be the most rewarding chapter yet.”
LGBT+ rights: Surrogacy
Sadly, not everywhere in the world allows or accepts same-sex parenting yet. In Israel, the government has refused to open surrogacy to queer parents, which led to protests in July.
In Italy, where same-sex adoption is not legal, queer couples were told in August by deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini that they were “unnatural” and that surrogacy was “a horror.”
Salvini, the far-right leader of the Northern League party, also vowed to keep all families heterosexual and said he was “firmly against” marriage equality in the Catholic country.
