All There Is with Anderson Cooper

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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