Divorces in Hollywood are more common than marriages that last. That means that, when the news broke that Stranger Things star David Harbour and singer Lily Allen were separating, no one was really surprised. Even the cheating allegations about Harbour weren’t really all that shocking. But then came Allen’s latest album and, well…singers process in songs. So, there was a lot to break down.
And of course, there was a question. What does Harbour think about the songs that are clearly about him? Lily Allen had an answer. During a chat with Interview, the singer was asked how Harbour would react to the album. “It’s not a cruel album,” Allen said of West End Girl, which was released Oct. 24. “I don’t feel like I’m being mean. It was just the feelings I was processing at the time.”
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The album was written and recorded over 10 days in December 2024, right after the two separated after four years of marriage.
“I feel very differently about the whole situation now,” Allen added. “We all go through breakups, and it’s always f–king brutal. But I don’t think it’s that often that you feel inclined to write about it while you’re in it.”
West End Girl has been called a revenge album, but Allen doesn’t see it that way. “That’s what’s fun about this record; it’s viscerally like going through the motions,” she explained. “At the time, I was really trying to process things, and that’s great in terms of the album, but I don’t feel confused or angry now.”
As for how Harbour may have reacted to the new album, Allen did not want to speculate. “I try not to think about that,” she said. Instead, she wants the album to “feel brutal and tragic but also empowering.”
The album, which Allen says was only “inspired” by the moment and her marriage to Harbour, doesn’t exactly paint Harbour in the best light. It’s bad enough that there has been speculation about whether Harbour could bring forward a defamation suit against Allen and her production company.
Louise Lambert, co-CEO of Reviewed and Cleared, a specialist media law firm, told Cosmopolitan that even though it is defamatory to call someone a cheater, the “truth is a complete defence to defamation.” She also added that “in the event of a claim, the person making the allegation would need to provide evidence of cheating in order to rely on this defence.” Since the lyrics don’t specifically mention Harbour, any possible suit would also have to go into the meanings of the lyrics.
“The same [defamation] laws govern both [music and journalists] but, as an artistic work, there is perhaps more leeway in terms of what a song actually means. Allen has indicated herself that it’s not all necessarily true,” Lambert also said, which is probably an answer in and of itself. After all, let us remember that Drake’s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us was recently dismissed by a judge, who ruled that Lamar’s lyrics were “nonactionable opinion.”
So yes, this split is messy, but it’s probably not going to end in a lawsuit. Whether Harbour actually comments on it—he will start doing press for Stranger Things Season 5 soon—remains to be seen.
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