Andy Cohen clearly had the time of his life at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, chatting it up with Erika Jayne, rocking out to Janet Jackson and even scoring a coveted seat behind Taylor Swift.
Given his dramatic history with the singer ― Cohen once joked about Katy Perry with Swift and it didn’t go down well ― it seemed like things could’ve been super awkward. Luckily, Cohen told HuffPost, it was anything but.
“She was super nice ― so nice,” the talk show host said Tuesday at a Purina ONE and Petfinder Foundation event. “She turned around and was really sweet to me about my pink suit ― we were wearing the same color. She was awesome.”
But did he bring up Perry again, now that the two singers have reconciled?
“No, I did not,” Cohen said with a smile. And for good reason.
Two years ago, Cohen was attending the Met Gala when he ran into Swift, who was looking for a seat to watch Lady Gaga’s performance. For some reason, he decided to point out where she could settle down.
“Why I felt I needed to get involved I will never know (maybe I was auditioning for her squad?) but I innocently said exactly the wrong thing to her, which was, ‘Your friend Katy is sitting in the corner and there’s plenty of room around her,’” Cohen recounted in his book Superficial: More Adventures From the Andy Cohen Diaries.
Swift apparently asked him, “Katy who?” and then, as you might expect, things escalated a bit.
“I said ‘Perry,’ at which point she clearly let me know that she’s the exact opposite of her friend,” Cohen wrote.
Despite Swift’s request that he not talk about the encounter on his show (to his credit, he did not), the 49-year-old obviously discussed the Met Gala encounter in his book.
At this year’s gala (which Swift did not attend), Cohen chatted it up with a fellow “Vanderpump Rules” and Lisa Vanderpump fan ― Rihanna herself.
The two talked about “Vanderpump Rules,” and then Cohen tried to convince Rih to sit down with him on “Watch What Happens Live.”
“I was like ‘When are you coming on my show?’ I was just really trying to get her on,” Cohen told HuffPost. Maybe if Lisa Vanderpump is there, it just might happen.
Cohen recently wrapped his reunion episodes with the cast of “Vanderpump Rules” after one of its best seasons yet. The three-part sit-down was nearly as dramatic as the season itself, with Jax Taylor talking about the death of his father, some Lala Kent and Scheana Marie Shay tension, and a tearful Scheana and Lala walk-off. Cohen told HuffPost that he’s “been encouraging them not to walk off, but you’re never gonna not have a walk-off,” which sounds about right.
But preparing for the drama ― and the lines of questioning that audiences love and Bravolebrities hate ― doesn’t take Cohen long at all.
“For me, I’m kind of born ready ’cause I’ve seen every episode, I know what happened behind the scenes, I know how the viewers feel from doing ‘Watch What Happens Live’ every week and reading my Twitter feed and stuff ― so ya know, I’m ready to go,” Cohen said.
Even when he did his favorite interview ever ― with Oprah ― Cohen said it didn’t take long to get ready.
“She means so much to me and I love her so much. I was really nervous for that and I wanted to be on top of my game,” he said. “Again, I was kind of born ready. I’d watched so many hours of ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show,’ I’d been like kind of a student of hers so I feel like I was sort of ready to go.”
While preparation might not drag him down, there are some hard parts that come along with Cohen’s many jobs. For “Watch What Happens Live,” he says it’s the “shlong down to SoHo at 10 p.m. every night” (though we’d also suspect trying to get Swift and Rihanna on the show is a bit tough, as they haven’t made appearances yet).
“And then, the hardest part of the ‘Housewives’ is just kind of dealing with strong personalities,” he said of the iconic franchise he helps produce.
That sounds like one work hazard that just won’t go away.
