Cooper was born in Manhattan, New York City, the younger son of the writer Wyatt Emory Cooper and the artist, fashion designer, writer, and heiress Gloria Vanderbilt.He's just one of the "little people", a regular joe, just like us. Cooper's concerns are our concerns.</sarc>His maternal grandparents were millionaire equestrian Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt and socialite Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, and his maternal great-great-great-grandfather was business magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who founded the prominent Vanderbilt shipping and railroad fortune.
He is also a descendant, through his mother, of Civil War brevet Major General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, who was with General William T. Sherman on his march through Georgia. Through his "Vanderbilt" line, he is a second cousin, once removed, of screenwriter James Vanderbilt.
Not only is he kin to robber barons, but to a war criminal too! </ducks>
The funny thing is, Cornelius Vanderbilt was a real man’s man, virile, strong as an ox and as tough as nails. Then his great-great-great grandchild turns out to be this weak kneed, effeminate, pathetic, poor excuse of a man. Sad.