Andy Cohen Went from News Intern to the Face of Bravo—And Earned Millions Along the Way (2024)

Andy Cohen has practically become the face of Bravo. He’s the host of Watch What Happens Live and always hosts reunion shows for the Real Housewives franchises. But he isn’t just a hilarious on-air personality—Cohen has also served as an executive producer of a slew of beloved shows and done his fair share of acting.

As you can imagine, he makes some pretty good money doing all of that—he currently has a net worth estimated at $50 million. But the 51-year-old father of one didn’t start out on top. Here’s how he became one of the most famous reality TV personalities.

Cohen started out as a news intern.

Cohen revealed on an episode of Watch What Happens Live that he was once an intern for CBS News reporter Erin Moriarty, who later appeared on his show as a guest bartender.

“My family was in the food business, so we didn’t really have any connections to TV or entertainment,” he recently told USA Today. “I just got as many internships as I could, so before I even graduated I think I had had six or seven internships, and my last one was at CBS News in New York. Though I had planned to work in the small market and be on the air, I got one taste of New York life and said, forget it, I think I’ll move there and work behind-the-scenes.”

After college, Cohen became a CBS producer for a bit, but he had bigger things in mind. “I’ve always been fascinated by celebrity from a young age,” Cohen told CBS News.

He eventually became a VP of programming.

Cohen left CBS in 2000 to become vice president of programming for the cable channel Trio. But in 2004, he moved to Bravo, where he served as vice president of original programming. He helped shape many of the hit shows that are on the network today, and even helped create the Real Housewives series. “I love it. And I really—I’m proud of the show,” he told CBS.

Since then, Cohen has served as executive producer on a slew of hit Bravo shows, including Project Runway, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List, The Rachel Zoe Project, Top Chef, and The Millionaire Matchmaker.

He launched Watch What Happens Live in 2009.

Cohen regularly chats with celebrities and reality TV stars on his show, and even has a guest bartender serving drinks to everyone—and he loves it. “I’m pretty sure there’s some kind of endorphin released in me every time someone reveals a secret,” he told The Washington Post. “Whether the question came from me or not.”

Cohen also told CBS News that he’s living the life he always dreamed of. “One-hundred percent. I mean, it’s great. There couldn’t be a more pure iteration of who I am than what I’m doing every night live at 11 o’clock,” he said.

He also has his own Sirius XM radio station called Radio Andy.

Cohen is also a writer.

Cohen wrote a best-selling book in 2012 calledMost Talkative: Stories From the Front Lines of Pop Culture. He followed that up in 2015 with The Andy Cohen Diaries: A Deep Look At a Shallow Year and in 2017 with the book, Superficial: More Adventures from The Andy Cohen Diaries.

“I sometimes think this can’t be my life,” he wrote in the introduction to Superficial. “And maybe that’s part of the reason I write everything down—it’s too good to forget.”

And he’s picked up some awards along the way.

Cohen received an Emmy award when season six of Top Chef won Outstanding Reality Competition Program at the 2010 Emmy Awards and has been nominated for 17 additional Emmy Awards. He also won a Peabody Award for his role as executive producer of the TRIO documentary The N Word and another in 2008 as an executive producer of Project Runway.

He owns at least $11 million in real estate.

Cohen bought a unit in a West Village building in 2003 and eventually bought three more units in the same building that he combined into one apartment that’s estimated to be worth at least $6 million today. He also just bought an oceanfront lot in the Hamptons community of Amagansett for $5.4 million.

Andy Cohen has a net worth of $50 million today.

Cohen continues to be an executive producer on The Real Housewives of New Jersey and star on Watch What Happens Live. He also guest hosts pretty often on Today. Add all of that up, and he’s reportedly making about $10 million per year.

He credits much of his success to truly loving what he does. “Just follow your passion,” he told USA Today. “Try to pick out a company that you believe in or are excited about, or an industry that you believe in, and success will follow.”

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