Mary-Louise Parker and Billy Crudup had one of the messiest Hollywood breakups in recent memory. The couple split after almost a decade together and while Parker was seven months pregnant. What caused the breakup?
Parker And Crudup’s Breakup
Parker and Crudup started dating in 1996 after they met on the set of Bus Stop. The couple were together for seven years and announced they were expecting a child in 2003. That same year, Crudup started filming Stage Beauty, where he met Claire Danes.
Crudup and Danes struck up a relationship, leading the actor to call it quits with Parker, who was seven months pregnant at the time. The pair have been pretty quiet about the details of their split, but Parker opened up about that time in her life in her 2015 memoir Dear Mr. You.
Her Memoir Explained: ‘I Am Pregnant And Alone’
In the book, Parker writes letters to unnamed people, giving them nicknames like “Movement Teacher,” “NASA,” and of course, the titular “Mr. You.” The actress describes her mindset around the time of the breakup with Crudup in a letter titled “Dear Mr. Cabdriver.”
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In the essay, Parker writes to a cab driver who got lost while driving her to an appointment. The actress recalls getting very upset with him, yelling and cursing. The cab driver ended up kicking her out, saying, “I don’t want you anymore.”
“No one does,” Parker wrote. “Look at me. You turned and looked, I think for the first time…My life is worse than yours in this moment. I wailed. I am alone. Look, see? I am pregnant and alone. It hurts to even breathe.”
The actress went on to say the cab driver “made a gesture” of kindness, and they went their separate ways. The letter isn’t an outright description of her breakup with Crudup, but it’s the closest Parker has ever gotten to talking about the split.
What Is Their Relationship Like Today?
Mary-Louise Parker gave birth to the couple’s son, William, in 2004 and the pair have co-parented him amicably and even appeared in some of his student films together. Crudup and Danes’ relationship ended in 2006; he’s been in a relationship with Naomi Watts since 2017.
Parker is currently single, but has been linked to Jeffrey Dean Morgan—the pair were even engaged for a short period—and musician Charlie Mars. She and Crudup’s breakup was undeniably devastating, but it looks like the pair have happily moved on with other people.