From theater to film and television, Mary Louise Parker has been everywhere and done
almost everything.
She began dating fellow actor Billy Crudup in 1996 and the pair made it seem like they
would be together forever.
Instead of happily ever after, their union ended in tragedy and heartbreak.
Stay tuned juicers because today we are looking at why Mary Louise Parker and Billy Crudup’s
relationship fell apart.
While celebrity breakups are common in Hollywood, Crudup and Parker’s split took the industry
by storm because the Weeds actress was pregnant with their son, William, at the time.
The pair met in 1996 and were together for almost 8 years when they fell pregnant with
their son.
Everything seemed to be going perfectly for the couple.
They were young, in love, in a steady relationship and having a baby.
However, in 2003, when Parker was 7 months pregnant, she was left alone and devastated.
Billy left Mary-Louise to pursue a romance with actress Claire Danes, whom he worked
with on the set of their film, Stage Beauty.
Their story began with a lot of scandal, of course.
It was during the film that the pair started falling for one another and the affair began.
After Crudup and Parker’s break up, she continued to raise her son on her own.
A year after he was born, she began working on Weeds and started dating her co-star Jeffrey
Dean Morgan.
It was an on-again, off-again relationship that ended with them getting engaged in 2008.
A year later, their engagement was called off and they went their separate ways.
Maybe marriage wasn't in the cards for Parker after all.
Since then, there's been no word of Mary-Louise Parker's relationship status.
But is she sitting around heartbroken?
Not necessarily, she keeps herself busy as a single mom.
In 2007, Parker became a solo mom, times two when she adopted her daughter Caroline from
Ethiopia.
“They put you in touch on how little you know and how little you are capable of and
much you are capable of.
They are very humbling, children.
I am more patient now,” she said speaking on motherhood.
Billy went on to date a few stars since his breakup with Parker.
He has now been dating none other than his Gypsy co-star, Naomi Watts, since 2017 and
in classic Hollywood fashion, they keep their relationship very under wraps.
Claire and Billy eventually moved in together but after 4 years and a lot of devastation,
they parted ways.
The extremely private couple didn’t discuss the reason behind their breakup, but the press
would do it for them.
Rumors spiraled out of control and Claire had apparently left Billy for her co-star
and current husband, Hugh Dancy Well, if that isn’t a full circle of karma for Billy,
we don’t know what is!
Claire opened up about her controversial relationship with Billy almost 10 years after it ended.
She admitted that she was young and careless at the time, and the decisions she made boiled
down to love and naiveté on her part.
She said she was at peace with the situation saying, “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.”
She also spoke about how dating Billy was transitional in her adulthood.
She also said that she and Billy remained friends after the breakup and still are friends
to this day.
Danes married her husband in 2009.
They welcomed their first son, Cyrus in 2012, and their second son, Rowan , in 2018.
In the years following Billy and Mary-Louise’s split, neither actor addressed the controversial
breakup.
In 2004, Crudup was pressed to address the delicate situation in an interview.
He emailed the reporter after the interview and asked for anything about Mary to be removed
from the piece.
It was a personal and painful experience that involved a baby that didn’t deserve to get
exploited.
“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,” he said.
Parker kept relatively quiet on the scandal and for good reason.
When she was pressed about it in an interview, she said, “It’s weird to me the way that
people feel they have the right to comment on it.
I’ve never commented on the situation, and I won’t because it’s not fair to my son.”
Though Parker kept quiet about the affair at first, she has the final say about her
split from Crudup in her 2015 memoir, Dear Mr. You.
It is a book made up of letters written to the significant men she has encountered in
her life.
The book incorporates 34 separate letters, but none appear to directly mention Crudup,
However, the actress alludes to the devastating aftermath of Crudup leaving her.
In one essay, she wrote about a cab driver she had shouted at during that difficult time
in her life.
She explained more about how horrible this time in her life was.
In the piece, she recalls an incident in which she was pregnant and driving around Manhattan
with a cab driver who had gotten lost en route to her doctor’s appointment.
She was stressed out and began to swear at the driver, who stopped and asked her to refrain
from shouting.
When she continued, the driver asked her to get out, telling her, “I don’t want you
anymore.”
The exchange then took an emotional turn when Parker replied with, “No one does,” before
assuring him, “My life is worse than yours in this moment.
I am alone.
Look, see?
I am pregnant and alone.
It hurts to even breathe.
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.
Look at me.”
How devastating is that?
Even though she was dealing with a lot at the time, Parker still felt terrible about
her actions and apologized to the driver in her memoir.
“I don’t know what you thought, if you had a daughter or a wife or if my little drama
was a hangnail compared to your life.
What I wish I could tell you is I don’t know what happened to you that morning, or
that year, or when you were six.
I didn’t know your tragedy or hardship and it was unfair of me to compare my life to
yours.
I have thought of you and know you wouldn’t remember me, but
I am sorry.”
The breakup couldn't have been easy, but Parker made her way afterward and picked up the pieces
of her life.
These days, if she has a love life at all, she isn't very public about it.
That fact alone leads fans to wonder whether Parker's sworn off love for a lifetime, or
if she's had a change of heart since the Billy episode.
The actress gave a somewhat revealing interview that clarified how she feels about love, in
general.
Parker admitted that she was moved by the stories of others’ love but that part of
her also doesn't believe in that kind of love because she doesn't see it with her own eyes
anywhere.
If that sounds a bit jaded, that's understandable.
Mary has been through a lot and came out stronger for it.
And one of the ways she exhibits that strength is by admitting that she's not waiting on
some fairy tale love story to sweep her off her feet.
It does seem that Parker has experienced personal growth from her experiences.
Even though she has her reservations about true love, we are sure there is a chance that
she will find it after all.
Billy is involved in their son’s life and even accompanied him and Mary to an award
show where she was the guest of honor.
Although this devastating breakup left a lot of damage in its wake, everyone involved seems
to have moved on and healed.
Stay tuned for more updates in the future.
Be well and be kind to one another.