• Christopher Stokowski was born in 1952 to Gloria Vanderbilt and Leopold Stokowski.
• He chose to avoid the spotlight and kept his life private.
• He attended Bard College and pursued a career in music composition.
• In 2016, Christopher returned and reunited with his family after watching an HBO documentary featuring his mother and half-brother, Anderson Cooper.
• His estimated net worth is $1 million, possibly inherited from his father.

 

Despite being born into a ridiculously wealthy and famous family, Christopher Stokowski didn’t want to embrace the lifestyle of the rich and famous. Instead, he chose to avoid the spotlight. Still, he led an interesting life and is the half-brother of veteran journalist Anderson Cooper.

Early life and family

While Christopher wanted nothing to do with being famous, his early life is known for living with his family. He was born on January 31, 1952 in Gloria Vanderbilt and Leopold Stokowski, who was married at the time.

Leopold was regarded as one of the best orchestra conductors of the 20th century. Gloria was an heiress of the impressive and very famous 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 whom was veteran journalist, Anderson Cooper. Anderson made a name for himself working for CNN and is much admired in his chosen career.

Not one for the bright spotlight, Christopher kept his life private, making details about his general life quite scarce. He preferred under the radar and didn’t hang out with his famous family as much. He wanted to build a life for himself away from the public eye.

Educational background and career

Not much is known about Christopher’s education and earlier life. He is known as a shy kid who couldn’t really deal 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 kept to himself, trying to avoid the fame of the Stokowski-Vanderbilt family.

Christopher inherited his father’s love of 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 lady named April Sandmeyer in 1974. The two started dating and soon got serious about their relationship and their future together. They got engaged in 1977. This decision to make things official came shortly after his stepfather, Wyatt Cooper, and his biological father passed away. Perhaps he was driven to take his relationship seriously by being reminded how fragile and precious life is after experiencing death.

He began seeing his mother’s therapist around this time, probably to help him deal with the deaths of the two prominent men in his life. However, things went wrong when he realized that the therapist and his mother were conspiring to end his relationship with April.

When she found out, April was devastated and their romance came to an end. Christopher was furious and decided to cut ties with his family, especially his mother. He had hoped this would win April’s heart back.

Unfortunately that didn’t work. Christopher then decided to move out of 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 has been up to during this time.

Family life and reunion

The Stokowski-Vanderbilt family is quite large and mixed. On his father’s side, Christopher has a brother named Leopold. He also has three stepsisters, Andrea Sadja Stokowski, Sonia Maria Noel and Gloria Luba Stokowski.

Christopher also has two stepbrothers 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 all those decades. Carter showed no signs of being unhappy or suicidal, but committed suicide by jumping from the 14th floor of Gloria’s Manhattan penthouse. He was 23 years old 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 watching “Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt and Anderson Cooper”, an HBO documentary starring Gloria and Anderson.

Christopher was not actually mentioned in the documentary. According to April, his former fiancé, Gloria probably didn’t want to say 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 not give him attention he wouldn’t want.

Anderson confirmed that he and Christopher were able to reconnect after the documentary. Christopher remains in touch with his family today.

Net value

Since Christopher’s life is 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 for nothing. After all, he inherited a large sum of money from his father, Leopold.

As of December 2019, it is reported that Christopher’s personal net worth stands at about $1 million.

After Gloria died, he may have been entitled to a share of her $200 million fortune. There are those who believe that she left him nothing, and most of the money went to Anderson.