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David Harbour breaks his silence on ex-wife Lily Allen cheating allegations for first time
Asiya A.
David Harbour has addressed Lily Allen's cheating allegations for the first time since the release of her fifth studio album.
The Stranger Things star and the 'Smile' singer split in early 2025 after four years of marriage, and Allen later released her album West End Girl, which many listeners believed was about the breakdown of their relationship.
Throughout the project, the 41-year-old singer-songwriter touched on the themes of infidelity, open relationships, gaslighting, and sex addiction.
On a track titled 'Madeline,' Allen appeared to sing about reluctantly accepting the conditions of an open marriage.
"We had an arrangement, be discreet and don't be blatant / There had to be payment, it had to be with strangers," she sings, before asking: "Is it just sex or is there emotion?"
In another song called 'P**sy Palace', she references coming home to "a shoebox full of handwritten letters from brokenhearted women".
And in the album's closing track 'Let You W/In,' she sang: "I will not absorb your shame, it's you who put me through this."
"I can walk out with my dignity, if I lay my truth on the table," she added.
'It was weird'
Harbour, 51, had remained largely silent about the album since its release, but has now addressed it during an interview with Variety.
"It was weird," he said about the album's release. "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."
When asked whether he wanted to respond to any of the claims made on the record, the Hellboy actor declined.
"Stories are complex, and that’s why I say I respect her creation of art to channel her experience. It wasn’t my experience," he said.
Allen defended the album's personal themes
Allen has never explicitly confirmed who or what inspired specific songs on the album, though she previously described West End Girl as "a mixture of fact and fiction which I hope serves as a reminder of how stoic yet also how frail we humans can be," per The Independent.
Speaking to The Perfect Magazine, the 'Hard Out Here' singer explained why she was determined to create a project that pushed boundaries.
"If what you're doing isn't provocative, what's the f***ing point?" she said. "And if it's not scary, what's the point? I'm not here to be mediocre."
"My gift is my pen and my writing and the way that I observe the world. It’s not singing, really, and it’s not certainly not dance routines, and it’s not whatever else it is that other artists might have going in their favour. My strength is my ability to tell a story. And so I’m going to lean into that. I have to. It’s all I have," she added.
She also stressed that commercial success was never the driving force behind the project.
"None of this album or anything around it, apart from the sexy photos, has been approached with commercial success in mind," Allen said.
Both stars opened up about personal struggles
The end of the marriage was challenging for both Allen and Harbour.
Following the split, the 'LDN' songstress checked herself into a treatment facility at the start of 2025.
"The feelings of despair that I was experiencing were so strong," she told British Vogue later that year, adding that it was the closest she had come to relapsing after six years of sobriety.
"I've been into those places before against my will, and I feel like that's progress in itself," she continued. "That's strength. I knew that the things I was feeling were too extreme to be able to manage, and I was like, 'I need some time away.'"
Harbour also revealed that he suffered a nervous breakdown in December, causing him to miss celebrations surrounding the final season of Stranger Things.
"I do suffer from some confusing stuff - it's confusing as hell," he told Variety. "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."
He added: "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."