David Harbour has finally given his verdict on ex-wife Lily Allen’s break-up album.
Speaking to Variety, the Stranger Things actor has called her critically acclaimed record West End Girl, ‘weird’.
The album, which has lyrics on extramarital activity and emotional manipulation, is meant to tell the story of her break-up with Harbour, with a bit of artistic license, but he doesn’t see it that way.
He said: ‘It was weird. I do believe that it is the privilege of every artist to use their experience to create art, and so I respect her for doing that. I can’t really say that much more, because it’s my private life.
‘In spite of the fact that a lot of people don’t allow me a private life — I value it. And I also value the lives of the people that I interact with privately. I just won’t speak about that.
‘Stories are complex, and that’s why I say I respect her creation of art to channel her experience. It wasn’t my experience.’
David Harbour says ex-wife Lily Allen’s break-up album was ‘weird’ and denies her version of events saying ‘it wasn’t my experience’
She and David met on Raya and married in Vegas in 2020, but legally separated in early 2025 after four years of marriage and their divorce proceedings followed shortly after
Lily previously stressed that her 14-track album, which was written in 10 days last December consists of a ‘mixture of fact and fiction’, adding that fans shouldn’t take the lyrics and their meaning as ‘gospel’.
Most notably her hit Madeline saw Lily accuse David of having a three-year affair with a younger costume designer as she appeared to suggest the couple had an open arrangement in regards to sex, as long as it was discrete and not based on emotional connection.
Meanwhile in the song Tennis, Lily uses the racket sport as a metaphor for sex as she sings: ‘So I read your text, and now I regret it.
‘I can’t get my head round how you’ve been playing tennis/ If it was just sex I wouldn’t be jealous. You won’t play with me and who the f**k is Madeline?’
The song ends with an outro repeating: ‘Da, da-da, da-da, who’s Madeline? (Who’s Madeline?)’ before it ends with: ‘No, but who is Madeline, actually?’
Lily and David met on Raya and married in Vegas in 2020, but legally separated in early 2025 after four years of marriage and their divorce proceedings followed shortly after.
West End Girl explores the emotional fallout of the split. Before her marriage to Harbour, Lily was married to builder Sam Cooper from 2011 until their divorce in 2018.
David revealed he had a breakdown late last year and has been incredibly open about his bipolar disorder in the past.
He said: ‘I had a breakdown. I do suffer from some confusing stuff — it’s confusing as hell. I think a lot of people have a friend or a brother or a co-worker that deals with mental health stuff, and they’re probably pretty confused when that person gets depressed or gets manic or has an episode.
‘Under times of extreme stress, that can cause somewhat erratic behavior, and it’s embarrassing, and I’m ashamed of it. It’s not something I choose, and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
‘I do feel like, for some of us, our gifts are inextricably linked with our illnesses. To have a nervous system that reacts to the world in a too-delicate way can allow me to have that moment that I love on the swings with Jason [Bateman in “DTF St. Louis]. But it can also force me, in moments of extreme stress, to act a little weird.’
Can two people come away from the same relationship with completely different versions of what happened?
He said: ‘It was weird. I do believe that it is the privilege of every artist to use their experience to create art, and so I respect her for doing that. I can’t really say that much more, because it’s my private life’
David revealed he had a breakdown late last year and has been incredibly open about his bipolar disorder in the past
He said: ‘I had a breakdown. I do suffer from some confusing stuff — it’s confusing as hell. I think a lot of people have a friend or a brother or a co-worker that deals with mental health stuff, and they’re probably pretty confused when that person gets depressed or gets manic or has an episode’
Meanwhile back in November the Daily Mail revealed that Millie Bobby Brown had filed a harassment and bullying claim against David after his conduct on the set of Stranger Things
Detailing public opinion in the wake of Lily’s album, he said he is simply doing his best.
He said: ‘You can like me, not like me, yell about me — whatever I mean to you. But I’m just going to try to put the best foot forward, and try to put out things, in the midst of all of my difficulties.’
Lily’s Madeline character took off at the end of last year, with the singer even dressing as her for Halloween.
Elsewhere in the song she sings: ‘How long has it been going on? Is it just sex or is there emotion?/ He told me it would stay in hotel rooms, never be out in the open/ Why would I trust anything that comes out of his mouth?’
‘I’m not convinced that he didn’t f**k you in our house’.
The chorus then goes: ‘We had an arrangement/ Be discrete and don’t be blatant.
‘There had to be payment/ It had to be with strangers/ But you’re not a stranger, Madeline.’
The song also features spoken interludes from the character of Madeline where she insists to Lily over text ‘Our relationship has only ever been about sex/ I can promise you that this is not an emotional connection.
‘We don’t speak outside of the time we spend together/ And whenever he talks about you, it’s with the upmost respect.’
Later Madeline adds: ‘I hate that you’re in so much pain right now/ I really don’t wanna be the cause of any upset.
‘He told me you were aware this was going on and that he had your full consent.
‘If he’s lying about that, then please let me know/ Because I have my own feelings about dishonesty.
‘Lies are not something that I want to get caught up in.
‘You can reach out to me any time, by the way/ If you need any more details or you just need to vent or anything/ Love and light, Madeline.’
