Anderson Cooper says he realized he was gay after meeting a shirtless Richard Gere backstage at a Broadway play

• Anderson Cooper talked about the moment he found out he was gay.

• After seeing Richard Gere in a Broadway play, Cooper came to the conclusion.

• Cooper said he couldn't speak after meeting Gere.

During the "Andy Cohen Live Pride Special" on Radio Andy, Anderson Cooper talked about how he realized he was gay.

Cohen and John Hill sat down with the CNN host. Cooper recalled watching the Broadway play "Bent" in the late 1970s with a photographer and his boyfriend, who were friends with Cooper's mother.

The play was about the persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany.

Richard Gere was looking for Mr. Good bar in 1977. He was gorgeous. I am there. My mother wasn't going. He said it was only him and his mom's gay friends.

The gayest thing you can imagine is the opening scene in which a man gets out of bed completely naked and wears a uniform.

I remembered being like, 'Oh my God, I'm gay.' He said he's gay.

Cooper said that he met Gere backstage after the play ended. When Cooper met Gere for the first time, he was shirtless.

I could not say anything. Cooper told Cohen that he wanted to get him to autograph his play bill, but he couldn't stop staring at his chest.

After interviewing Richard Gere, Cooper asked him to sign the original play bill. He said Gere was happy with the story.

Representatives for Cooper and Gere didn't respond to the request for comment.

Cooper talked about how he came out to his mother. She told him not to make any decisions because she was cool about it. Cooper came out in the public eye.

In a 2016 interview with Entertainment Weekly's Jess Cagle and People, she said she had a lesbian relationship when she was 13. The gossip surrounding her mother, who was accused of being a lesbian during a 1932 custody battle between her parents, influenced her understanding of LGBTQ issues.

"I think almost everybody goes through at one point, the thing is, now we realize there's no difference, and I think that's a good thing," he said. "Love is what it's made of."

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