TV Booking Wars: How Anderson Cooper Landed Donald Sterling

Anderson Cooper secured a huge get with his exclusive sit-down with Donald Sterling, and ET got the scoop on how Cooper edged out all the other networks that were trying to book Sterling first.

Anderson Cooper secured a huge get with his exclusive sit-down with Donald Sterling, and ET got the scoop on how Cooper edged out all the other networks that were trying to book Sterling first.

"I'm sure a lot of people were interested in talking to Donald Sterling and somebody had to do it. It's the way it goes," Cooper told ET's Rob Marciano.

Cooper went on to reveal that timing played a part. "I had met with him about a week and a half ago and he wasn't ready to talk then," the 46-year-old journalist said. "I simply said to him that we would give him a fair platform and I would ask him tough questions and he was ready to answer."

RELATED VIDEO: Watch Anderson Cooper's Sterling Interview 

In the interview, which made national headlines, Sterling attempts to apologize for the racist remarks that led to his lifetime ban from the NBA. The full interview aired Monday, May 12, on Anderson Cooper 360 at 8 p.m. ET.

While Cooper was getting his exclusive with Sterling, Barbara Walters was chatting with the disgraced Clippers owner's confidant V. Stiviano.

"I don't think I was scrapping or wanting it," Walters told Gayle King of booking the interview. "I think I would have lived if I didn't get it."