Billy Crudup is opening up about parenthood.<\/p>\n
The actor, 57, revealed he and his ex Mary-Louise Parker<\/a>\u00a0still have one thing in common following their contentious 2003 split: their son William, 21.<\/p>\n During an interview with\u00a0The Times<\/a> published on Thursday, Crudup was asked if he and Parker, 61, are on better terms today than they were during their initial breakup.<\/p>\n Billy Crudup attends the 5th Annual Academy Museum Gala at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on October 18, 2025. The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cWell, without commenting on any of our \u2026 Our adoration for our son is boundless,\u201d the \u201cMorning Show\u201d star gushed. \u201cHe has, through the mash-up of the two of us, been endowed with superpowers for theatricality. He\u2019s such a badass. Mary-Louise and I appeared in most of his films.\u201d<\/p>\n Crudup and Parker first began dating while co-starring in the 1996 Broadway show \u201cBus Stop.\u201d <\/p>\n Seven years later, when the\u00a0\u201cWeeds\u201d\u00a0actress was seven months pregnant with William, the Emmy winner left her for Claire Danes.<\/p>\n Mary-Louise Parker attends the 74th Annual Tony Awards at Winter Garden Theater on September 26, 2021. Getty Images<\/p>\n The \u201cHomeland\u201d star, 46, and Crudup met while filming the rom-com\u00a0\u201cStage Beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n The new flames went public in 2004 before splitting in 2007. <\/p>\n While Crudup has never spoken in length about his breakup with Parker, he did write an email to reporter Jesse Green during a profile for the\u00a0New York Times<\/a> in 2004, asking for privacy.<\/p>\n \u201cI just want to make an argument for not including anything about the Mary-Louise Parker situation. First and foremost,\u201d the \u201cAlmost Famous\u201d star penned. \u201cIt is personal, painful and involves an infant, and does not deserve to be exploited to sate the appetites of circulation counters and bored readers.\u201d<\/p>\n Mary-Louise Parker and her son William Atticus Parker attend MGM+\u2019s \u201cThe Institute\u201d red carpet screening at the Culver Theater in Culver City, California on June 26, 2025. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n William Atticus Parker and Billy Crudup during the 29th Annual Critics Choice Awards on January 14, 2024. Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cI have never indulged our society\u2019s misguided notion that my personal life is relevant to my work, so any reporting surrounding that is necessarily hearsay, speculation or fantasy,\u201d he continued. \u201cEach published report is based only on the trade of suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in 2017, Crudup did tell The Times, \u201cYou have to live with the mistakes that you make.\u201d <\/p>\n As for why he never wanted to speak out about their situation, the Apple TV+ star told the outlet: \u201cThere are other people involved. Why get into a public discourse when you\u2019re still trying to work it out?\u201d <\/p>\n For her part, Parker hinted at their split in her 2015 memoir,\u00a0\u201cDear Mr. You.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI am alone. Look, see? I am pregnant and alone. It hurts to even breathe,\u201d the actress penned in a note she wrote to the cab driver who got lost while taking her to a doctor\u2019s appointment.<\/p>\n Billy Crudup and Mary Louise Parker arrive for the 56th Annual Tony Awards in NYC on June 2, 2002. Getty Images<\/p>\n Mary-Louise Parker and Billy Crudup arriving at the 9th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2022. Corbis via Getty Images<\/p>\n Parker ended up adopting her daughter\u00a0Ash, 18, from Ethiopia in 2007. <\/p>\n Danes, meanwhile, told Blackbook in 2009, \u201cThat was a choice I made to fall in love. It\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cMy So-Called Life\u201d\u00a0alum went on to marry Hugh Dancy in 2009. They first met on the set of the 2007 movie\u00a0\u201cEvening.\u201d The couple share three kids: sons Cyrus and Rowan, and a daughter whose name has never been revealed.<\/p>\n Billy Crudup and Claire Danes attend the Seeds Of Peace Annual Gala in NYC on February 16, 2006. Getty Images<\/p>\n Crudup has since married\u00a0Naomi Watts<\/a>, whom he met while filming\u00a0\u201cGypsy\u201d in 2017. Although they have no projects in the works, he\u2019d love to collaborate with the \u201cAll\u2019s Fair\u201d actress again.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have anything on the books right now but we talk about it often,\u201d he told The Times. \u201cShe\u2019s chomping at the bit to do some theatre.\u201d<\/p>\n The pair wed in 2023 during a casual courthouse ceremony in NYC. In 2024, Crudup and Watts, 57, had a second lavish wedding ceremony in Mexico City.<\/p>\n William was in attendance along with Watts\u2019 two kids, whom she shares with ex Liev Schreiber \u2014 Kai, 16, and Sasha, 18.<\/p>\n Billy Crudup and Naomi Watts attend the 2025 Academy Museum Gala on October 18, 2025. FilmMagic<\/p>\n Billy Crudup and Naomi Watts arrive at Excelsior Hotel during the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on August 28, 2025. Getty Images for Netflix<\/p>\n In January, the \u201cMulholland Drive\u201d star opened up about having sex with Crudup <\/a>for the first time.<\/p>\n