Who Is Bruce Bozzi? Details About The Godfather Of Andy Cohen's Baby
He is part of a restaurant empire.
getty Andy Cohen is loving fatherhood. The face of Bravo became a father via a surrogate on Feb. 4, 2019. Benjamin Allen Cohen already has the nickname “Benny,” as referenced on the cover of the Feb. 15 issue of PEOPLE magazine
He spoke to the magazine about his unique journey to fatherhood. He had “worked with an organization that helps you find the egg donor and the surrogate, and you kind of package the whole process.”
“I worked with an incredible surrogate,” he continued. “She was in California. Surrogacy is illegal in so many states, including New York. I don’t understand why. It’s a voluntary process, obviously. My surrogate just viewed it as, she was giving me the ultimate gift. She gave me life. So I’ll be forever indebted to her.”
Andy also announced the godfather of his child. “Uncle Bruce” has the honor of being Benny’s godfather.
Who is Bruce Bozzi? He too is famous but in a different industry. Here's everything we know about the godfather of Andy Cohen's baby.
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1. His family co-founded the Palm restaurant.
Palm restaurants can be found across the United States and in Mexico, but the first restaurant opened in New York City in 1926. Bruce’s great-grandfather Pio Bozzi and John Ganzi, two immigrants from Parma, Italy, co-founded the restaurant. It was originally on Second Avenue in the East 40s.
Although the restaurant was supposed to pay homage to the immigrants’ home — the restaurant was supposed to be called Parma, but the person who issued the license for the restaurant misheard their accent — clientele enjoyed steak more than pasta.
Pio and John’s sons worked at the restaurant their whole lives and eventually took over, and then their sons, Bruce Sr. and Wally, ascended the Palm throne. The third generation, however, began to expand the business beyond its original location.
2. Bruce tried to work in television after graduating from the University of Southern California.
The family business’s Italian Catholic tough-guy steakhouse environment did not mesh well with Bruce as he was growing up.
“I was a quiet kid,” he told the Washington Post in 2018. “I was never a boy’s boy, never athletic. My dad and I didn’t really connect. I was closer to my mom. In Catholic school, by sixth or seventh grade I knew I was attracted to boys, and there was some bullying going on.”
Bruce instead set his eyes on the West Coast. “I romanticized California based on TV, ‘Charlie’s Angels,’ ‘Three’s Company,’” he told the Post while reflecting on his choice to attend the University of Southern California. “It meant freedom, glamour, celebrity.”
Bruce stayed in Los Angeles after he graduated and tried to find acting gigs in television.
3. Now he’s an executive vice president of Palm Management Corp.
He came back to New York after he came out to his family.
At first, the news was not well received. But when he talked to his father, with whom he became closer while moving across the country for college, he found acceptance. His father said, according to Bruce, “‘I think you’re a good man, a good person. I love you, and if you’re happy that’s the most important thing.’”
After moving back, Bruce began to work at the Palm and the Palm Too. As the Palm opened more and more locations, he rose up the corporate ladder. Eventually, he landed back in California.
4. He married Bryan Lourd in 2016.
The two entered into a relationship in 2006. Lourd is a managing partner of Creative Artists Agency. So although Bruce never got to live out his acting dreams, he has deep connections with the acting scene.
They tied the knot on Oct. 12, 2016 at the Beverly Hills Courthouse. It was a simple affair, as Bruce wrote on Instagram, “...we’ve been married in our hearts for years.”
Many celebs offered the happy couple well wishes through heart-filled Instagram comments.
Kelly Ripa said “Dying of joy!!”
Reese Witherspoon said “Love this.”
And, of course, Andy Cohen put in his two cents: “This is BEAUTIFUL!!!”
5. He’s Billie Lourd’s stepfather.
Bryan Lourd dated Carrie Fisher for three years, from 1991 to 1994. In 1992, the couple welcomed daughter, Billie Lourd.
Even though they broke up shortly afterward, the two managed to maintain a relationship in co-parenting Billie.
“It’s a tribute to both Carrie and Bryan that after they split up they managed to keep the majority of their relationship focused on co-parenting Billie, the daughter they both cherished,” Carrie’s brother Todd Fisher wrote in My Girls: A Lifetime With Carrie and Debbie. “There were many times when, for a variety of reasons, Carrie was unable to be the kind of loving, reliable other Billie deserved, and Bryan was always happy to take over as her loving, reliable father.”
After Carrie Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds passed late in 2016, Bruce wrote a touching letter to his stepdaughter paying tribute to the incredible women they lost.
6. Cohen is the godfather of Bruce’s daughter.
In 2007, Bruce had daughter Ava through a surrogate. He started the process of becoming a father a few months before he started dating Bryan Lourd. Lourd later adopted Ava. She and Billie were the two witnesses at their wedding
Andy is Ava’s godfather, referred to as “Uncle Andy,” according to Andy’s Instagram post.
Alison Cerri is a writer who covers astrology, pop culture and relationship topics.