Claire Danes and Billy Crudup's Relationship Timeline: A Look Back

Emmy-winning actress Claire Danes dated Billy Crudup "to fall in love." Little did she know that in doing so, she would find herself the subject of one of the biggest scandals in 2003. The Homeland star, then 24, and Crudup, then 35, had been in relationships just prior to their love affair — Danes with musician Ben Lee and Crudup with a very pregnant Mary-Louise Parker.

Despite the sensationalism surrounding the relationship, both parties worked hard to keep the details of their romance private. It wasn't until after their 2007 breakup that Danes acknowledged and finally commented on her relationship with The Morning Show actor— and its consequences.

Since their controversial romance ended, Danes married Hugh Dancy in 2009 and welcomed three children. Crudup began dating his Gypsy castmate, Naomi Watts, in 2017, and the couple confirmed their marriage in 2023.

Here's a look back at Claire Danes and Billy Crudup's relationship.

2003: Claire Danes and Billy Crudup first meet

This love story, unfortunately, was marred in controversy.  

In late 2003, Crudup and his girlfriend of eight years, Parker (who, at the time, was about seven months pregnant with his son), broke up, People reported. Crudup had moved on to his Stage Beauty co-star Danes, a claim that Danes's rep denied, according to Page Six.

"Claire has been friends with Billy for 10 years," the My So-Called Life star's publicist told People. 

It's unclear exactly when and where Crudup and Danes met, though they both served as voice talent in the 1997 anime film Princess Mononoke. In October 2004, Crudup was pressed to address the delicate situation in a New York Times interview. 

In an email sent to the reporter, Crudup asked for "anything about the Mary-Louise Parker situation" to be excised from the piece. 

"First and foremost, it is personal, painful and involves an infant, and does not deserve to be exploited to sate the appetites of circulation counters and bored readers," Crudup wrote. "I have never indulged our society's misguided notion that my personal life is relevant to my work, so any reporting surrounding that is necessarily hearsay, speculation or fantasy. Each published report is based only on the trade of suffering."

2004: Claire Danes and Billy Crudup are first spotted together

Regardless of the timeline, Danes and Crudup's friendship certainly evolved into something more. By summer 2004, the former co-stars had been "spotted nuzzling all over New York City," per People. Just take their PDA-filled courtside date, for instance. (We are accepting any and all leads regarding where to purchase Danes's unicorn turtleneck.)

January 2007: Claire Danes and Billy Crudup break up

Two years in and one shared SoHo loft later, Crudup and Danes parted ways in 2007. Naturally, the ultra-private couple didn't discuss the reason behind their breakup, but the tabloids were happy to do so for them. Gossip rags, according to Washington Examiner, claimed that Danes had left Crudup for her Evening co-star, Dancy. The truth? Well, we'll probably never really know.

It wasn't until years after their split that Danes said anything about her relationship with Crudup (and the media drama that followed it). 

"That was a choice I made to fall in love," she reportedly told BlackBook in 2009 (via People). "It's unpleasant to be cast in such an unflattering role [in the tabloids], but I just had to remain steadfast. I was living with the same kind of integrity that I had always lived with. It's not nice to be ridiculed — nobody wants that — but it's also unavoidable."

She referenced Crudup again in 2013, telling Vogue that "dating Billy" was transitional in her adulthood. 

"I was segueing into: 'I'm a grown-up now,'" she said.

In 2015, Howard Stern (naturally) coaxed even more from Danes regarding that tabloid-heavy time in her life. 

"That was a scary thing. It was really hard," the Full Circle actress said of the public backlash, reported Vanity Fair. "I didn't know how to not do that. I was just in love with him, and needed to explore that, and I was 24 ... I didn't quite know what those consequences would be. But it's OK. I went through it."