YouTube star Hannah Hart said last week that CNN anchor Anderson Cooper influenced her decision to come out gay.

Hart, who is best known for starring in her YouTube series My Drunk Kitchen, was presented with GLAAD's Davidson/Valentini Award at its Gala San Francisco on Thursday.

In accepting the award, Hart, 29, said that Cooper's 2012 coming out “meant the world” to her.

“I was like, 'Oh my God, if I start to work in entertainment, is there going to be a day where I have to come out?' Well, I don't really feel like I have to come out. Maybe I should just do that right now. Should I just tell everybody the story of what it was like for me to come out in this moment?” she rhetorically asked.

“And so I did and it was so much harder than I thought it would be,” she added.

Hart later got emotional as she expressed how much the recognition meant to her. Hart has previously talked about growing up in a homophobic house.