Despite being born into a ridiculously wealthy and well-known family, Christopher Stokowski didn’t want to embrace the lifestyle of the rich and famous. Instead, he chose to shun the limelight. Still, he’s lived an interesting life and is half-brother to accomplished journalist, Anderson Cooper.
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Early life and family
Although Christopher wants nothing to do with fame, his youth is known because he lived with his family. He was born on January 31, 1952, to Gloria Vanderbilt and Leopold Stokowski, who were then married.
Leopold was considered one of the best conductors of the 20th century. Gloria was the heiress to the impressive and well-known Vanderbilt fortune. She was famous from birth and lived a comfortable life. However, she built a life for herself and became a successful writer, businesswoman, socialite, designer and painter.
Christopher had many other siblings – the most famous of them being veteran journalist Anderson Cooper. Anderson made a name for himself working for CNN and is widely admired in his chosen career.
Not one to be in the spotlight, Christopher has kept his life private, making details about his general life quite scarce. He preferred under the radar and didn’t associate himself as much with his celebrity family. He wanted to live his life away from the public eye.
Training and career
Not much is known about Christopher’s upbringing and previous life. He is known to have been a shy child who couldn’t quite cope with the fame of his mother and family.
He attended Bard College, a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Here he remained alone and tried to avoid the fame of the Stokowski-Vanderbilt family.
Christopher inherited his father’s love for music and decided to pursue a career in that direction. He was determined to establish himself in the music industry and became a talented music composer.
Relationship with April Sandmeyer
Christopher fell in love with a young woman named April Sandmeyer in 1974. The two began dating and soon became serious about their relationship and their future together. They got engaged in 1977. This decision to make things official came shortly after the passing of her stepfather, Wyatt Cooper, and her biological father. Perhaps he was prompted to take his relationship seriously by remembering how fragile and precious life is after experiencing death.
He began seeing his mother’s therapist around this time, who might help him cope with the deaths of the two prominent men in his life. However, things turned sour when he realized that the therapist and his mother were working together to end his relationship with April.
When she found out, April was devastated and their romance ended. Christopher was furious and decided to cut his ties with his family, especially his mother. He had hoped that this would win back April’s heart.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Christopher then decided to leave New York and informed his family that he would never return.
Anderson Cooper with his mother and brother.Anderson Cooper
Posted by Brandon Bent on Wednesday, December 19, 2018
For the next 38 years, Christopher disappeared and no one heard from him. It is not known what he did at that time.
Family life and reunions
The Stokowski-Vanderbilt family is quite large and mixed. On his father’s side, Christopher has a brother named Leopold. He also has three half-sisters, Andrea Sadja Stokowski, Sonia Maria Noel and Gloria Luba Stokowski.
Christopher also has two half-brothers from his mother’s marriage to Wyatt – Carter Vanderbilt Cooper and Anderson Hays Cooper.
Sadly, one of his half-siblings committed suicide while Christopher was away from his family for those many decades. Carter gave no indication of being unhappy or suicidal, but killed himself by jumping from the 14th floor of Gloria’s Manhattan penthouse. He was 23 at the time of his suicide and had a bright future ahead of him. He was considered intelligent and had attended Princeton. Carter also had a very good job at American Heritage as a book editor.
In 2016, Christopher finally returned and was reunited with his family.
He contacted his estranged family after seeing “Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt and Anderson Cooper,” an HBO documentary starring Gloria and Anderson.
The documentary didn’t really mention Christopher. According to April, his former fiancée, Gloria probably didn’t want to talk too much about him because she knew he didn’t like being in the public eye.
Town&Country magazine reported in 2019 that April said Gloria wanted to protect Christopher’s privacy and didn’t want to give him the attention he didn’t want.
Anderson confirmed that he and Christopher were able to reconnect after the documentary. Christopher remains in contact with his family today.
Net value
With Christopher’s life being as private as it is, it’s not easy to determine exactly how much he’s worth. However, it is believed that since he comes from a wealthy family, he lacks nothing. He has, after all, inherited a large sum of money from his father, Leopold.
As of December 2019, it is reported that Christopher’s personal net worth is around $1 million.
After Gloria died, he may have been entitled to a share of her $200 million fortune. There are people who believe that she left him nothing and most of the money went to Anderson.
