One of the stars of HBO‘s iconic Girls revealed that he had a decades-old relationship with Anderson Cooper that later inspired a storyline on the Lena Dunham series.
Andrew Rannells, 47, said on a recent episode of the Daily Beast’s Obsessed: The Podcast that he and Cooper, 59, had a ‘very brief relationship’ more than 20 years ago.
The actor also admitted that the old romance helped inspire a storyline on Girls in which his character, Elijah, dated an older and successful TV news anchor played by Corey Stoll.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Cooper’s representative for comment.
‘I told Lena [Dunham] and [executive producer and co-showrunner] Jenni Konner a story about when I was 25 that I had dated Anderson Cooper, and I told them about the experience and what that was like,’ Rannells said on the podcast.
He added that Dunham and Konner thought his tale was a ‘fun story,’ and it appears to have been the inspiration for his character’s major storyline in season five of Girls.
Girls star Andrew Rannells, 47, said on a recent episode of the Daily Beast’s Obsessed: The Podcast that he and Anderson Cooper, 59, had a ‘very brief relationship’ more than 20 years ago; pictured May 22 in LA
The actor also admitted that the old romance with Cooper (pictured in May 2025 in NYC) helped inspire a storyline on the fifth season of HBO’s Girls, in which his character, Elijah, dated an older and successful TV news anchor played by Corey Stoll
Rannells’s character, Elijah, was the ex-boyfriend of Dunham’s character, Hannah Horvath.
He came out as gay to her when they reconnected in the first season, and later seasons highlighted his romantic dalliances, including an attempt to explore his possible bisexuality with costar Allison Williams’s character Marnie.
In the fifth season, Elijah began dating the popular news anchor Dil Harcourt (played by Stoll), though the two ultimately went their separate ways due to Elijah’s concerns about Dil’s other relationships and Dil’s desire to settle down with ‘someone less aimless.’
Girls, which aired on HBO from 2012 to 2017, later brought Stoll back for a guest appearance in the sixth and final season, in which Dil and Elijah had a charged reunion.
In an interview with Queerty from 2016, when season five was airing, Stoll was asked in a roundabout way if his news anchor character had been inspired by Cooper.
‘I don’t know. I was playing Dil Harcourt,’ Stoll replied. ‘I did not base this character on anybody [italics in the original article].’
Cooper was also asked around the same time if Stoll’s character was based on him, though Rannells’s connection to him doesn’t appear to have been reported at the time.
‘I thought he was more of a [Bill] O’Reilly character,’ said Cooper, who admitted he was ‘obsessed’ with Girls.
!['I told Lena [Dunham] and [executive producer and co-showrunner] Jenni Konner a story about when I was 25 that I had dated Anderson Cooper, and I told them about the experience and what that was like,' Rannells said; he's pictured with Corey Stoll (R) on Girls](https://i.dailymail.com/1s/2026/06/17/00/109398303-15905773-image-a-19_1781653931500.jpg)
‘I told Lena [Dunham] and [executive producer and co-showrunner] Jenni Konner a story about when I was 25 that I had dated Anderson Cooper, and I told them about the experience and what that was like,’ Rannells said; he’s pictured with Corey Stoll (R) on Girls
Elijah and Dil ultimately parted due to the new anchor’s desire for ‘someone less aimless,’ but Stoll returned in the sixth and final season for a guest appearance; Stoll is pictured with Lena Dunahm (L)
When Stoll was asked at the time if his character was based on Cooper, he told Queerty: ‘I don’t know. I was playing Dill Harcourt. I did not base this character on anybody’; Cooper is pictured on May 21 in NYC
Rannells, part of the Book Of Mormon original cast, downplayed Cooper’s inspiration for Dil in a 2016 Elle interview. ‘I think the general idea that he’s this powerful, you know, adult, is what’s important,’ he said; pictured with The Book Of Mormon costar Josh Gad on June 7 in NYC
‘I just met Lena Dunham at Sundance and she didn’t mention anything to me, but I’d be flattered,’ he said, adding, ‘I’m a friend of Andrew’s. I should ask him.’
Rannells, who was one of the original leads of The Book Of Mormon, appeared to downplay Cooper’s inspiration for Stoll’s character in a 2016 Elle interview.
‘I think the general idea that he’s this powerful, you know, adult, is what’s important,’ he said at the time. ‘For my money, his job could have been any number of things. It just represents that he’s very much from the outside of these characters’ world.
In reference to a fancy party scene he shot with Stoll’s character, Rannells said it ‘felt very foreign, like all of a sudden we were shooting this completely different show, because we were in this very grown-up situation.’
‘That’s what Dill represents,’ he added.
Although Rannells and Cooper’s relationship was apparently short-lived, both men have since had major long-term relationships.
Rannells met his current partner, the actor Tuc Watkins, when they starred together in 2018 in a Broadway revival of The Boys In The Band.
The actors continued to work together on screen when they reprised their roles in the 2020 Netflix adaptation of the play, which had most famously been adapted as a film in 1970 by the Oscar-winning filmmaker William Friedkin.
Rannells met his current partner, the actor Tuc Watkins, when they starred together in 2018 in a Broadway revival of The Boys In The Band. They began dating the following year and reprised their roles in the 2020 Netflix adaptation of the play; seen together in April 2025 in NYC
Cooper has most prominently been linked to Benjamin Maisani, whom he began dating from 2014 to 2018; pictured together in 2015
Despite their split, they decided to welcome to sons together whom they co-parent: Wyatt, six, and Sebastian, four; pictured together in 2013 in NYC
Both worked together again in 2020 on Showtime’s Black Monday.
Cooper has most prominently been linked to Benjamin Maisani, whom he began dating in 2014.
The two split up in 2018, but Cooper revealed in 2020 – the year that his son Wyatt, six, was born – that he and his ex were going to raise Wyatt together despite no longer being romantically involved.
The exes and co-parents went on to welcome a second child, Sebastian, now four, in 2022, and the boys share both fathers’ last name.
