Bravo Exec Andy Cohen Scores Seven-Figure Advance for Memoir (Exclusive)

Bravo executive vp and Watch What Happens: Live host Andy Cohen has scored a huge payday to write a book.

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that Cohen, the rare Hollywood executive who pulls double-duty as on-air talent, received a low seven-figure advance for his untitled memoir announced earlier Monday by Henry Holt for publication in summer 2012. 

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Such a large advance signals a big bet by Holt that Cohen can go from niche cable star to mainstream hit with the memoir, which will likely be one of next summer’s most heavily promoted titles. A source familiar with the negotiations says Holt believes the book will find an audience with “housewives who think Andy is their gay best friend.” 

The news comes two weeks after Vogue creative director (and co-star of the 2010 documentary The September Issue) Grace Coddington received a similarly large advance for her memoir about her childhood in wartime England, her experiences at the center of the London and Paris fashion industries in the 1960s and ’70s, and her work at Vogue with Anna Wintour.

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Cohen’s book will trace his life from a closeted gay teen growing up in the suburbs of St. Louis during the ’70s and ’80s to his career as a producer at CBS This Morning and 48 Hours to his current role as a programming executive at Bravo. Cohen will also tell how such pop culture classics as The Brady Bunch and Donnie and Marie inspired his career and helped him navigate his life.

Cohen is repped by CAA.