By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Anderson Cooper got a little too close to the action while covering the uprising in Egypt for CNN Wednesday and was beaten by backers of the country's president, Hosni Mubarak.
"Got roughed up by thugs in pro-mubarak crowd...punched and kicked repeatedly. Had to escape. Safe now," Cooper wrote in his Twitter account.
In a video that aired after the attack on CNN, Cooper explained that the crowd first grabbed at his camerman near the Egyptian Museum to keep him from filming, but that they didn't notice his own small Flip camera.
"All we could do was to try to walk as quickly as possible, stay together and seek a safe location, which is where we are now," Cooper said.
Steve Brusk, a producer at CNN where the anchor hosts "Anderson Cooper 360", later announced on Twitter that Cooper was hit 10 times in the head by the pro-Mubarak mob.
Cooper's former colleague, Larry King, wished him good luck after his scrap became known.
"Stay safe Anderson," King wrote to Cooper via Twitter.
One of CNN's biggest stars, Cooper has always gotten close to the stories he covers. His on-air breakdown in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was lauded for its honesty.
Closer to home, the newsman most recently bought a historic Greenwich Village firehouse to convert into his private home.
