On the most recent episode of The Thrive Global Podcast with iHeart Radio and Sleep Number, Thrive Global founder and CEO Arianna Huffington sat down with Andy Cohen, the executive producer of The Real Housewives, host of Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, and the first openly gay American late-night talk show host. In a wide-ranging conversation, Huffington and Cohen spoke about everything from his love life to the benefits of taking 20-minute naps.
Cohen recently publicly confirmed that his two-and-a-half year relationship with Clifton Dassuncao is over and on the podcast he told Huffington that it ended in July. He discussed the difficulties of being a single bachelor, explaining that he sometimes turns to his dog, Wacha, for emotional support. “It’s an incredible thing when you have moments where you need to hug a dog and they’re there for you,” he said. “I mean, I need a boyfriend is the bottom line. Let’s get real.”
Though he made it clear he is ready to move on, Cohen didn’t have anything negative to say about his past relationship. “That guy was good for me,” he told Huffington. In fact, Cohen said that he stopped writing The Andy Cohen Diaries after two volumes partly because of how serious the relationship had gotten. “I realized that this guy I was dating could potentially be a thing, and I was like, I’m not going to start reporting on this relationship in a book. I want to live my life,” he told Huffington.
Currently, Cohen is on at least one dating app. “I had a really good Tinder date last week that I’m hopeful about,” he said.
While Huffington said she isn’t planning to start a dating app to compete with Tinder, she and psychologist and author Adam Grant have created what she describes as a “very select dating list” or the “Adam Grant, Arianna Huffington special list.”
When Grant came up with the idea for a matchmaking list over dinner one night, Huffington said she didn’t think he’d follow through. Two days later, he sent her the first part of the list, which included names and profile links. “We only include in this list people that we know, or that people we trust know directly,” Huffington explained.
Huffington said she can’t guarantee that Cohen might find love with someone on the list, but “who you fall in love with is magical, it’s chemistry,” she said. “There’s never any real rational behind it, but we can promise that you would at least want to be friends with anyone on this list.” (To be fair, however, she and Grant have had some success in setting people up through the list.)
So what does Cohen think about this matchmaking opportunity? “I’m down,” he said.
To hear the full conversation on iHeartRadio, click here.
You can also listen to the Thrive Global podcast internationally for free on iTunes and Stitcher.