The schizophrenic Queens man who terrorized CNN anchor Anderson Cooper for nearly six years pleaded guilty Friday to felony menacing and harassment charges — but insists he’s no stalker and never meant to hurt the handsome newsman, saying, “I would die for him.”
“Stalker is the furthest thing from what I am,” said Alex Hausner, 38, the scraggly haired loon who was freed on time served after nine months behind bars for repeatedly visiting Cooper and his beefy boyfriend Benjamin Maisani from September 2007 to July 2013.
“I’m sorry that he feels that way. He was never in any danger. I would die for him.”
Hausner, who left Manhattan Supreme Court sporting a black ski coat and toting a brown paper bag, must stay away from Cooper and his boyfriend or else he’ll be thrown behind bars, Judge Charles Solomon sternly warned.
“If I learn there are any problems with the order of protection, believe me, you’re being picked up and you’re going to upstate (jail) before you even know it,” said Solomon.
Hausner, who must also seek psychiatric treatment, is expected to get five years’ probation at his sentencing in one year.
When asked if he loved the steely-eyed journalist, Hausner said, “I do.”
He claimed to have coincidentally bumped into Cooper and said he thinks someone is setting up the chance encounters.
“If anything, I feel someone else is arranging it,” Hausner said while leaving court.
“I’m a gay man, in my 30s. I hang out in the Village,” he added, noting he and Cooper share the same “stomping grounds.”
Cooper’s attorney, Jason Berland, said, “My client greatly appreciates the work of the NYPD, the DA’s Office and Judge Solomon in this matter.”
On Tuesday, a teary-eyed Hausner fumbled for words when asked to plead guilty to menacing and harassment charges before the judge postponed the matter to Friday.
He returns to court May 20 for a status update.