Claire Danes On That Time She Was The Other Woman

24 is one of those on-the-cusp ages. You’re not a girl, still unsure about the difference between that and being a woman. Life is in flux. You’re learning to stand on your own two feet. Your skin is thickening because of the jobs market and the baby boomer bosses who don’t particularly care. It’s all c?est la vie, and you’re wondering why you bothered ever wanted to be an adult. Hooking up with an older man, whose girlfriend is seven months pregnant, who he will leave for you, should not be on the agenda.

Unfortunately, Claire Danes did just that when she was 24-years-old, and it was a big public mess. The Homeland actress and Billy Crudup found themselves at the centre of a very judgmental tabloid storm in 2003, after Crudup left Mary-Louise Parker, his girlfriend of eight years who was pregnant with his son at the time, for Danes.

Danes and Crudup, who is 11 years older than her, had met while shooting the period drama, Stage Beauty. The relationship eventually petered out, and Danes is now married to Hannibal star Hugh Dancy. The couple wed in 2009 and have one son together.

Danes spoke about the Crudup scandal on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM show on Monday. “I was just in love with him,” She said of the relationship. “And needed to explore that and I was 24… I didn’t quite know what those consequences would be.” The consequences were a mighty public backlash, which sided with the heavily pregnant Mary-Louise Parker. “That was a scary thing,” Danes admitted. “That was really hard. I didn’t know how to not do that.”

Regarding her relationship with Crudup now, Danes said they remain friends. Meanwhile, Mary-Louise Parker is releasing a book called Dear Mr. You. It is a series of letters to the significant men in her life and we’re sure Billy is feeling a little bit nauseous at the very thought.

Last week Stern tried to get Emily Blunt to slam Michael Bubl?, her ex of many years, by bringing up the cheating rumours the former golden couple could never shake. Howard Stern = the human equivalent of plying a secretive woman with a carafe of ros?.

?Via Page Six