Anderson Cooper may be sitting on millions of dollars, but he insists he has no trust fund from his millionaire mother. The cable news anchor, 46, is the son of heiress Gloria Vanderbilt - of New York railroad fortune fame - though insists the family's old money won't make its way to him.

Anderson CooperAnderson Cooper Is Doing Just Fine On His Own

"My mom's made clear to me that there's no trust fund," Cooper told radio host Howard Stern on Monday. "There's none of that." The anchor said he "doesn't believe in inheriting money" and thinks it would be a "curse."

"Who's inherited a lot of money that has gone on to do things in their own life?" he added, "From the time I was growing up, if I felt that there was some pot of gold waiting for me, I don't know that I would've been so motivated."

Gloria Vanderbilt, 90 - a descendant of railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt - is worth around $200 million though has forged her own careers in fashion and art. "She made more money on her own than she ever inherited," Cooper said. "We believe in working."

Anderson himself earns $11 million a year at CNN and has been the network's most popular personality. He lives in a multimillion-dollar Manhattan apartment, and also has two Hamptons homes.

"Honestly, like my dad grew up really poor in Mississippi," he said, "I more paid attention to that because I thought that's a healthier thing to pay attention to than like some statute of a great-great-great grandfather who has no connection to my life."

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