Summary
- Mary-Louise Parker experienced a media frenzy when Billy Crudup left her for Claire Danes.
- Parker expressed her anger towards the media for their coverage.
- Parker has handled the relationship drama with class.
When celebrities breakup, there are often a lot of headlines. In fact, fans love to analyze the trends in Taylor Swift's breakups and observers are fascinated when stars seem to swap partners. Worse yet, if it seems like a star moves on quickly after a breakup, that causes a new round of rumors and gossip.
Throughout Mary-Louise Parker's career, she has been known for her dedication to her craft. Tragically for her, however, after Billy Crudup left her for Claire Danes when she was seven months pregnant, she became the subject of many headlines. After the media frenzy died down, Parker expressed her anger at how the media reported on her personal life.
What Happened Between Mary-Louise Parker, Billy Crudup, And Claire Danes?
During the mid-'90s, Mary-Louise Parker and Billy Crudup co-starred in a play called "Bus Stop" together. After hitting it off, the two immensely talented actors went on to date from 1996 until 2003 according to the website Whos Dated Who.
After eight years together, Crudup and Parker's relationship ended suddenly, and he went on to date Claire Danes. The thing that made the situation really sticky is Parker was seven months pregnant with Crudup's son when he left her.
More than a decade after Crudup and Parker split, she released a book titled "Dear Mr. You". In that untraditional book, Parker seemingly wrote about her painful breakup with Crudup in a chapter titled "Dear Mr. Cabdriver."
"I am alone. Look, see? I am pregnant and alone. It hurts to even breathe." Parker continued, "I’m trying to get through it but I’m by myself every night and every morning and no one, nothing helps. I’m sorry I yelled. I can’t get my shoes on anymore. Please, I know I am awful, it’s been made clear but look at me please"
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For her part, Claire Danes has addressed the drama surrounding her relationship with Crudup several times. A perfect example of that is when Danes talked to Howard Stern about Crudup in 2015 even though the former couple broke up in 2006.
“I was just in love with [Crudup]. I 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.” While speaking to Blackbook in 2009, Danes spoke about being labeled a homewrecker in the tabloids because of her relationship with Crudup.
“That was a choice I made to fall in love. 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.”
Why Was Mary-Louise Parker Mad At The Press Coverage Of Her And Billy Crudup's Breakup?
As anyone familiar with the tabloids and gossip websites will already know, they love reporting on celebrity's love lives. As a result, even when a couple like Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin break up on the best terms possible, that becomes tabloid fodder for weeks.
Of course, there are certain celebrity love life stories that the tabloids really tend to focus on. A perfect example of that is the fact that any news about any of the Kardashian/Jenner relationships gets an incredible amount of coverage.
While Mary-Louise Parker isn't a star the tabloids love like the Kardashians and Jenners, the media couldn't get enough of her at one point. Given the scandalous nature of Parker and Billy Crudup's breakup, the tabloids reported on it endlessly.
Fortunately for Parker, things eventually calmed down from the peak of her being followed around by the paparazzi. However, the media continued to bring up the drama occasionally many years after Parker and Crudup's split.
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In 2007, New York Magazine published a fascinating profile about Parker. At that time, Parker's career was running high as she was starring in the show Weeds. As a result, readers may have expected the resulting piece to focus on that.
In reality, the topic of Parker and Crudup's breakup came up in the profile even though their split happened in 2003. Unlike a lot of celebrities who always seem like they are playing the game, Parker got real about the situation.
However, Parker didn't get real by talking about her heartbreak or how breaking up with Crudup felt. Instead, Parker was very open about her frustration that members of the media and even the public gossiped about her personal life.
“It’s weird to me the way that people receive it. Not so much that they speculate on it, but that they feel they have the right to comment on it.”
Since Parker labeled the gossip about her breakup as weird, that may seem mild. However, the fact that Parker makes it clear that she found it hard to believe people would even comment on her breakup says it all. After all, some tabloids at the time did a lot more than comment on the breakup, the reveled in it.
Despite Parker's comments to New York Magazine, that certainly wasn't the end of things for her. Many years later in 2023, a member of the media yet again asked Parker about her former flame Crudup.
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In 2023, Billy Crudup got married for the first time when he and Naomi Watts tied the knot. Since Crudup and Watts had been together since 2016 according to Whos Dated Who, nobody should have been shocked they got married.
Amazingly enough, however, someone from The Guardian obviously felt the news of Crudup and Watt's marriage was noteworthy enough. After all, when The Guardian was interviewing Mary-Louise Parker, they asked her about her ex getting married.
According to The Guardian's own article that resulted from Parker's interview, the question about Crudup came out of nowhere. Not only that, The Guardian's article stated that Parker had a big reaction to being asked about Crudup.
"When Parker speaks with the Guardian, news of Crudup’s surprise courthouse marriage to Naomi Watts is only three days old. She seems stunned to be asked about this – we’d been talking about books, and Botox and Brooklyn."
To Parker's eternal credit, she responded to the question about Crudup with an incredible amount of class. “I wish them well. And absolutely, I honestly of course wish them every happiness because that’s my son’s father. So I’m happy for them. I’m happy they found each other –”
Despite Parker's classy response, the question about Crudup didn't seem to sit well with anyone. According to The Guardian's article, Parker's publicist abruptly put an end to the interview after the actor wished Crudup and Watts well.
