Claire Danes: ‘I’ve stayed in relationships longer than I maybe should have’

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We’ll talk about Homeland at the end of the post, where it won’t be so in-your-face spoilery, okay? For now, let’s just talk about Claire. I worry about Claire. I know that’s weird. Like, I think she’s fine overall and she’s incredibly talented and she has a full life. But I do worry about her marriage and whether the hours on the Homeland set are too much for a new, first-time mom. Maybe she likes to be this busy and maybe I’ve just spent too much time with the “manic” Carrie Mathison, but I do think she seems a little strung out lately. Anyway, Claire covers the new issue of Glamour. You can read the full piece here, and here are some highlights:

Claire on aging: “I’m happier in my thirties. I feel clearer about who I am and less apologetic about it, and more accepting of my limitations and also more aware of the ways in which I’m capable. I was always looking forward to this time because people talk about it in very romantic terms. And I think it’s true. Gravity hasn’t had too profound of an effect, and you’re a little less emotionally gangly. The twenties are a deceptively challenging-slash-painful time. I’m just glad to be out of that phase.”

Her 20s: “I was meandering a little. And a lot of the mysteries of life have been illuminated [since then]. Like, OK, this is the man I’m going to spend the rest of my life with. This is my son. This is my city. This is my home.”

On husband Hugh Dancy: “I’ve been with Hugh for…seven years? It really doesn’t feel that long. It feels new every year because there is a new set of challenges: Who are we to each other now that we’re married? Who are we now that we have this shared person? We never have to fight to keep it fresh and new. Life just demands that of us.”

Relationships are hard: “Yeah, relationships are a constant negotiation and balance. I’m just a hard worker, so [in previous relationships] I took that creed “Relationships take work” a little too literally at times and stayed in relationships longer than I maybe should have, because I thought, Well, no pain no gain… And it’s nonsense if it’s just not working. You have to leave and end it.”

Date nights and crushing on her husband: “Well, it’s true that you often kind of forget to see the person you’re most intimate with, but occasionally I’ll come to and sort of think, Oh my God! You’re really, really good-looking! [Laughs.] I’m embarrassed now! It’s nice to occasionally have that flash. People talk about “date night,” and it is true: Sometimes you have to apply yourself, or at least apply lipstick to yourself. You kind of have to dress up, just because. You know, wear heels to your own dinner table.”

The reality of date nights: “Sometimes it feels totally absurd, ’cause we’re just going down the block and he’s wearing his “smart” blazer. Like, who are we kidding? We know where this is going: We’re going back home to watch Breaking Bad. Still, those gestures are important. It just hasn’t stopped being fun.”

[From Glamour]

Okay, she sounds fine here. Maybe I worry about her marriage too much! Maybe it’s a good sign that they aren’t all over each other on red carpets and such – it’s fine because they have a real marriage and a real partnership, right? I hope so. I did love the part about knowing how the date night is going to end – at home, watching Breaking Bad. That’s cute.

Also: “I… stayed in relationships longer than I maybe should have, because I thought, Well, no pain no gain.” Billy Crudup? I think that’s Billy Crudup.

As for Homeland… (SPOILERS)… this Iran storyline is killing me. Regime change? Really, Saul? What is this, the Cold War? It’s like we didn’t realize until Season 3 that Saul was a neo-con this whole time!!

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Photos courtesy of Glamour.

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28 Responses to “Claire Danes: ‘I’ve stayed in relationships longer than I maybe should have’”

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  1. Amelia says:

    That puppy is adorable;
    “I’m going to chomp on da wind!”
    And that’s what I took from this interview. Put something cute and fluffy in the way and you can be damn sure I’ll be distracted by it.

  2. mkyarwood says:

    Claire helped me grow up! That being said, we both probably took more into our actual lives from My So Called Life than we should have…

  3. LadySlippers says:

    Haven’t we all stayed in relationships too long? Lol

  4. QQ says:

    I cant with what’s happening in Homeland, The fact Saul thinks he can trust Javati, the Ridiculousness of Brody being back, rehabing a heroin addict to let him loose in Iran, Carrie still being allowed in a top operation after a lenghty hospital stay, after constantly backtalking and jeopardizing missions, after Getting Shot on the arm

    Gaahhhh I might have to stop watching… It really woulda been so brave of this show to never ever have us see Brody/Dana again

    • ZigZagZoey says:

      Honestly, it’s kinda hard to believe that it is the same show as season one. I LOVED it.

      • QQ says:

        Right?! Is a whole melodramatic Mess!!

        Ive loved seeing Saul maneuver and all but really the rest has been messy

  5. Patricia says:

    I’ve stayed in a relationship waaaaaaay too long, thinking “I’m a fighter, love isn’t supposed to be easy, it will get better”. All that crap. It’s just so hard to admit that you were wrong.
    Now I’m in a happy marriage and I see how wrong I was. A relationship shouldn’t be hard, it shouldn’t be something you are waiting to get better, you shouldn’t have to fight!

    • Sloane Wyatt says:

      Congratulations on your happy marriage!

      Patricia, you are so right about bailing on a bad, unfulfilling relationship. You have to free yourself up to available to yourself, and then when that’s nailed, be available to Mr. Life Partner.

    • AG says:

      @Patricia – I’m with you a 100%. When it’s “right”, it’s pretty easy. 🙂

  6. GeeMoney says:

    Isn’t her husband gay? I’ve read a lot of rumors about that.

    And even though I like her, I don’t like how she broke up Mary Louise Parker’s relationship with her and Billy Crudup. That was pretty sad.

    • Janeite says:

      GeeMoney, I feel the same way. Wasn’t Mary-Louise Parker very pregnant at the time too? I think Claire Danes and Billy Crudup met on the set of a movie, if I remember correctly.

      • GeeMoney says:

        As I recall, Mary Louise was in her like, 7th or 8th month of pregnancy when Claire came along, and her and Billy had been together for 7 or so years. Billy and Claire met while doing a play together, I think.

        My So-Called Life was a gem of a show (Claire and I are about the same age, and I felt like I connected with her at that point in time), but I can’t look at her the same after what she did. So awful.

    • chaine says:

      this. i have never watched anything she’s been in since she did that.

    • dee says:

      Not really, Claire AND Billy Crudup broke his relationship with his wife. I think Billy Crudup should be blamed more than her.

  7. Phew says:

    The clothes are flippin awful (minivan????) but she looks pretty

  8. tifzlan says:

    Honestly, this season of Homeland has been a bust. All over the place, too farfetched and not interesting enough. I can’t believe i’m saying this, but Carrie has been even more annoying than Dana. Can we just superglue her lips together? Tired of seeing it trembling every 2 seconds. Let’s just have a Quinn spinoff and call it a day. He’s the only character i care about anymore.

  9. msw says:

    I think that quote may have been about Ben Lee, who she dated for 6 years before leaving him for Crudup. It makes me sad to think she would have hurt him because he is sweetie. I have been a fan of his from his first album in 1995 until his musical “redesign” a few years ago. That, and Crudup is a dog for ditching Mary Louise 7 months preg.

    They were all friends, too, which makes the whole thing extra icky. Everyone seems to have moved on, though.

  10. emma says:

    So jealous she is married to Hugh Dancy, there I said it, ngl lol.

  11. Lux says:

    I still just can’t like her. I don’t forgive her and Billy Crudup for what they did to Mary Louise Parker.

  12. Ice Maiden says:

    It’s a bit sad that EVERY actress over the ripe old age of 25 or so is asked how she feels about ‘ageing’. Would anyone even think of asking Michael Fassbender or Benedict Cumberbatch – who are both a few years older than Claire – how they feel about ‘ageing’?

  13. Camille (TheOriginal) says:

    Love the pics, she looks gorgeous. Such an old Hollywood glamour look about her.

  14. taxi says:

    I think she’s very plain looking & borderline homely. She was a cute kid actor but lost that appeal during adolescence & never recovered it, imo. I loved Homeland at first, but Crazy Carrie, rolling her eyes & clenching her teeth, has gotten tiresome & now I don’t care enough what happens to any of them to keep watching. Farewell Quinn.
    Danes’ best role was as Temple Grandin, imo.

  15. MickeyM says:

    saul is totally a neo-con – funny.

  16. Baylor says:

    Wonder how she would feel if her husband does the same thing to her someday that she did to Mary Louise Parker.

  17. Becky1 says:

    I like what she said about being in your 30’s. I’m 41 now and miss my 30’s-the craziness/drama of your 20’s is over (at least it was crazy for me-I know some people mature earlier than I did). You have wisdom but you still look and feel young. It’s a nice combination of maturity and youth.