Lily Allen is the most successful she’s ever been after releasing her best album to date and launching a sell out tour – but what has become of ex-husband David and ‘Madeline?’
Lily Allen is arguably the most successful she’s ever been at this moment – her latest album, West End Girl, about her brutal breakup with husband David Harbour topped the UK download charts and sparked a sell out tour.
The release of her ‘revenge’ album at the end of October 2025, appeared to be perfectly timed to coincide with ex David’s promo tour for the final series of Stranger Things, leading some to suggest it was a PR stunt.
There’s even talk it could be turned into a play, with 40-year-old Lily appearing to confirm it during an appearance on The Tonight Show in the US this week. Host Jimmy Fallon asked: “In London, they’re trying to make West End Girl into a play?”
“That’s true,” Lily replied, saying she might be involved in the project but that “the ink is not dry”. “But, you know, I’m definitely having some conversations with people about it. It’s very exciting,” she added. And David could be the butt of some jokes when she appears on Saturday Night Live this weekend.
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Though she’s admitted the album is ‘autofiction’ – suggesting not all the songs are actually about David, 50 – there are clear references to their four-year relationship, such as moving to New York and discovering he was cheating on her – which he hasn’t denied.
But the question on everyone’s lips after the album dropped was ”Who is Madeline?’ Referenced in her track Tennis, Lily details how she uncovered David’s affair with American costume designer Natalie Tippett, thought to be 34, from a message on his phone.
Natalie stepped forward as the woman behind the moniker after reportedly meeting David while shooting 2021 Netflix film We Have A Ghost.
In the song ‘Madeline’ – which she uses as a pseudonym for Natalie – Lily quotes texts seemingly sent between herself and Natalie. In what appears to be Lily putting on an American accent, she says Natalie told her David was being honest about their relationship. Lily and David had agreed to an open marriage at the time.
Lyrics from the song claim Natalie said: “He is telling you the truth. Our relationship has only ever been about sex. I can promise you that this is not an emotional connection. We don’t speak outside the time we spend together and whenever he walks about you it’s with the utmost respect.”
She goes on to say that if David is lying, she wants to know as “lies are not something I want to get caught up in”. She ends by saying: “You can reach out to me any time. If you need more details or you just need to vent or anything. Love and light, Madeline [Natalie].”
Though David and Natalie’s relationship is said to have ended two years ago after meeting on the set of 2023 film We Have a Ghost, the pair are rumoured to have reconnected again this year knowing Lily’s album was about to drop.
Natalie set tongues wagging when she shared pics of herself at the Thermea Spa Village in Winnipeg in Canada at around the same time David was also in town filming the sequel to his action hit Violent Night.
While David was in town for work, Natalie – who is a single mum based in New Orleans – was not officially attached to the production. So her apparent presence in the Canadian city, thousands of miles from her home with her two-year-old daughter, has fuelled intense speculation that she was there solely to visit him.
For now, neither has confirmed their relationship status but a source told Daily Mail: “We know that he and Natalie have been together recently.” An insider reportedly claimed that the pair have remained in contact and may even have got closer amid the fallout from the song.
But Natalie hasn’t shied away from the fact she’s the real life ‘Madeline’. She also told the Mail: “Of course I’ve heard the song, but I have a family and things to protect. It’s a little bit scary for me.”
As for David? So far, he’s yet to address Lily’s accusations directly – and perhaps won’t publicly – especially as he won’t want to rock the boat with the final episodes of Stranger Things due to come out. Released in three parts, episodes one to four went on Netflix on November 26. While fans will have to wait until Christmas Day to watch episodes five to seven, with the big finale available to stream from New Year’s Eve.
The only thing he has said was in an interview with Esquire Spain, which was published on November 1, when he reflected on his “pain, slip-ups and mistakes.” Asked if there was anything he would change about his life, the actor said: “That’s such a hard question – the question of regre. I would change either everything or nothing.
“You either accept your path completely and realise that even the pain and the slip-ups and the mistakes are all part of the journey, and that there’s truth and growth, wisdom and deeper empathy and connection in all that. It’s kind of like a house of cards, the minute you try to change one thing you kind of have to change it all.” And it seems he has changed it all. Hey, Madeline…
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