Claire Danes opened up about her controversial relationship with fellow actor Billy Crudup during an interview on "The Howard Stern Show" yesterday, Us Weekly reported. The "Homeland" actress briefly explained why she felt she needed to explore her relationship with Crudup, who left his pregnant girlfriend (actress Mary-Louise Parker) to be with Danes.
Danes, who is now 36, and Crudup, now 47, met in 2003 on the set of their film "Stage Beauty," according to People. Crudup had been with Parker, now 51, for eight years and she was pregnant with the couple's child, now 11-year-old William. Stern pressed Danes about her controversial relationship with the "Almost Famous" star.
"When you decided to date the guy you acted with in the play, Billy Crudup," Stern told Danes. "So he's a married guy, he just had a kid and you start dating him. And then of course he's getting s--t for it and all that, is that like such a scary thing cause people are judging you?"
"Yeah, that was a scary thing," Danes revealed. "That was really hard."
"And when you go through something like that, are you thinking your career or are you like, 'what am I doing' cause people are so god d--n judgmental and all of this stuff," Stern pressed.
"Yeah, I don't know. I mean I didn't know how to not do that," she said, stammering on her words. "I just was in love with him and needed to explore that, and was 24. Didn't quite know what those consequences might be. But you know, it's okay. I went through it."
The couple broke up four years later and Danes is now married to English actor Hugh Dancy, but she said her relationship with Crudup has remained cordial.
"We're still friendly, we're friends," Danes said of her relationship now with Crudup.
Listen to a clip from the interview below.
