Girls' Andrew Rannells Says He Dated Anderson Cooper

Andy Cohen Crashes CNN to Surprise Anderson Cooper on 59th Birthday

Andrew Rannells has the scoop on Anderson Cooper.

The Broadway star shared he was in a "very brief relationship" with the journalist during his 20s, confirming long-running speculation that a romantic storyline on Girls was inspired by Cooper.

Recounting how he told creators Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner about his experience dating the former CNN host, Rannells, now 47, shared on a recent episode of The Daily Beast's Obsessed: The Podcast, "They were like, ‘Oh, that’s a fun story.'"

He added, "It became the story that Elijah had in the series."

Indeed, Rannells' Elijah Krantz character dated a news anchor named Dill Harcourt (played by Corey Stoll) on season five of the HBO series. However, the two eventually broke up due to their age difference, with the much-older Dill admitting that he wanted to be involved with "someone less aimless."

When the season aired in 2016, Cooper, now 59, brushed off rumors that he was the real-life inspiration behind Rannells' onscreen boyfriend.

"I thought he was more of a [Bill] O’Reilly character," he told the New York Post. "I'm a friend of Andrew’s. I should ask him."

Noting that he's "obsessed" with the comedy, Cooper added that he would "be flattered" if he inspired Dunham and Konner to create the Dill character.

For Stoll's part, he said he "did not base this character on anybody."

"I won’t comment on it," the actor teased in a 2016 interview with Queerty. "I was playing Dill Harcourt."

Dominik Bindl/Getty Images; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Discovery

As for Rannells' love life today? The Tony Award nominee has been with his The Boys in the Band costar Tuc Watkins since 2019.

Meanwhile, Cooper dated Benjamin Maisani from 2014 to 2019. Despite their split, he enlisted Maisani, 53, to be his co-parent for sons Wyatt, 6, and Sebastian, 4.

"I don't really have a family," Cooper—the son of the late Gloria Vanderbilt and Wyatt Emory Cooper—explained during a 2020 appearance on The Howard Stern Show, "and so my friends become my family."

"If something happens to me or even if something doesn't happen to me, the more people love my son and are in his life, I'm all for that," he added. "My ex is a great guy and it's good to have two parents, if you can."

For more surprising celebrity couples who dated, read on.

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