Behind every great man…
In the new issue of PEOPLE,Andy Cohenopens up about his close relationship with hismom Evelyn, who inspired his new book,Glitter Every Day: 365 Quotes from Women I Love.
“She always celebrated me being myself,” Andy, 53, tells PEOPLE of his mom. “She empowered me.”
The Bravo host credits his mom with keeping him grounded.
Andy Cohen with mom Evelyn, dad Lou and sister Emily in a throwback family photo.Courtesy Andy Cohen
“She taught me to speak my mind. And she keeps me on my toes,” Andy says. “She’ll text me afterWatch What Happens Liveand say, ‘That was horrible,’ or ‘Those guests are boring,’ or ‘You look fat.’ She’s a major ballbuster. But when she texts, ‘That was a great show,’ I know she means it.”
While the mother-son duo says they’ve always been close, their bond grew even tighter after he came out to her in the late 1980s.
Andy Cohen with mom Evelyn in 1981.Courtesy Andy Cohen
“It definitely brought us closer,” says Andy, who is dad to 2-year-oldson Ben. “She’d found a letter I wrote to someone in which I expressed my fear about telling more people I was gay. She thinks I left it out on purpose so she would find it. She confronted me about it, and I told her I was gay. We both started crying, and it was very emotional. But moments later she said, ‘I probably would’ve hated your wife anyway.’ It was so funny and so true.”
Soon after Andy came out, Evelyn decided to begin volunteering for the LGBTQ community.
“I decided I needed to do something about AIDS, because I was scared to death he was going to die,” Evelyn, 83, says. “I got involved withDoorways, which provides housing for people with HIV/ AIDS. It was a big relief to me, to meet all of these really wonderful people I hadn’t known before and to be able to contribute something.”
Andy Cohen with mom Evelyn.Ryan Nicholson
Adds Andy: “It’s an amazing testament to the kind of person she is, that her reaction to me coming out was: ‘I need to get involved in this community.'”
They say a mother always knows — but Evelyn says she wasn’t so sure about Andy’s sexuality, despite responding to his coming out with love and acceptance.
“I had a feeling. I was looking under his bed one day and I found … What magazine was it, Andy?” Evelyn says.
Says Andy: “It doesn’t matter the name of the magazine! She found gay porn.”
Andy Cohen and mom Evelyn.Ryan Nicholson
“But then, he always was in the shows — he was inCarousel,prancing around in it, and I wondered…” Evelyn muses.
Concludes Evelyn: “I liked those singers as much as he did!”
For more onAndy Cohenand his mom Evelyn, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.
source: people.com
