Andrew Rannells Confesses Secret Romance with Anderson Cooper

One of the stars of 's iconic Girls revealed that he had a decades-old relationship with that later inspired a storyline on the 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 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.

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.'

'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