Andrew Rannells Just Dished On How Dating Anderson Cooper At 25 Directly Inspired 'Girls' Storyline—And Our Jaws Are On The Floor

After years of speculation, the tea has finally been spilled about who inspired Elijah Krantz and Dill Harcourt's relationship.

In case you missed it, the hit TV show Girls aired for six seasons from 2012 to 2017, and followed the lives of four young women making their way through early romance and career moves in New York City.

A key side character was Elijah Krantz, played by Andrew Rannells, who dumps the lead female character, Lena Dunham's Hannah Horvath, before coming out as gay. Throughout the rest of the show, Elijah navigates a number of relationships as a newly-out individual, and one that caused speculation was his relationship with Dill Harcourt in season five.

Harcourt immediately had everyone wondering if he could be based on Anderson Cooper, because he was noticeably older than Elijah, and he was also a publicly out, smart, and charismatic news anchor.

For years, Lena Dunham, who was the main writer of the show, refused to answer who the character was based on, and Andrew Rannells also remained very tight-lipped about men he had dated who might have inspired subplots on the show. Even Anderson Cooper didn't know what to say, though he said it would be flattering.

However, in 2026, about ten years after the show ended and more than two decades since he dated him, Andrew Rannells has finally spilled the beans and can confirm that Dill Harcourt was, in fact, based on Anderson Cooper.

While appearing on Daily Beast's Obsessed Podcast, Rannells shared:

"I told Lena and 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..."

"And then it became the story that Elijah had in the series.”

You can catch the moment here:

Fans on multiple platforms were beside themselves, finally getting their suspicions confirmed.

@beastobsessed/Instagram

@beastobsessed/Instagram

@beastobsessed/Instagram

@beastobsessed/Instagram

@beastobsessed/Instagram

@beastobsessed/Instagram

@beastobsessed/Instagram

In season five, Elijah gets his heart broken by Harcourt after finding out that he had been dating around, and while he finally felt ready to settle into a long-term relationship, it wasn't Elijah who he had his eye on.

The specific details of the subplot belong to the show, rather than to Rannells' real-life dating experience, but it's still fun to think about how Harcourt's personality reflects that of Anderson Cooper. Hopefully he'll be as flattered as he said he would be.