After her “Stranger Things” co-star, David Harbour, separated from singer Lily Allen – reportedly due to him breaking the rules of their open marriage by having multiple affairs – Linda Cardellini has spoken about her thoughts on open relationships.
The two actresses, both age 50, play a married couple in the film DTF St. Louis. Their relationship becomes complicated when they both become involved with a weatherman, Carl, portrayed by Jason Bateman, leading to a deadly love triangle.
The new HBO limited series is based around a dating app used by people who are already married and looking to have affairs. This has naturally led people to connect it to David’s recent breakup with singer Lily, who is 40 years old.
After the pop star released her album, West End Girl, which openly discussed the difficult breakup of her marriage, Linda was questioned about whether the actors in DTF had ever talked about being in open relationships.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, actress Christina Applegate carefully avoided speaking directly about David, who has been involved with the project as an executive producer since 2022. However, she emphasized that she wouldn’t tell anyone how to live their life.
She also made a point of emphasizing that respect and kindness between partners are essential in an open relationship.
I mostly spoke with Steve, the director, about open relationships,” she said. “I don’t often hear about them within my social circle, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t exploring them elsewhere.
Everyone should live life in a way that brings them joy, as long as they treat others with kindness and respect. I believe people should be free to make their own choices.
Let me tell you, after a really tough personal time – my split from David in December 2024, which was especially hard after discovering some betrayal – I needed to pour everything into something creative. That’s exactly what led to my album, ‘West End Girl’! It was a whirlwind – we recorded the whole thing in just ten days. It was my first album in seven years, and honestly, it felt like a real rebirth.
The album came out unexpectedly and has been called a raw and honest account of their four-year marriage. Its 14 songs are intensely personal and reveal the difficulties they faced.
In her very honest and open lyrics—which she’s admitted combine real events with imagination—she says David pushed her to try an open relationship, but then broke the boundaries they’d agreed upon.
Lily is wondering if her ex-boyfriend has a problem with compulsive sexual behavior. She discovered a large number of sex toys and condoms at a separate apartment he kept, which she jokingly referred to as ‘Pussy Palace’.
Okay, so everyone’s talking about her song, ‘Madeline,’ and it’s clearly about David cheating. She doesn’t even try to hide it! She gives this other woman – the one he was with – a fake name in the song, ‘Madeline,’ but we all know who she’s talking about. It’s just…wow. She’s so brave, and the song is devastatingly brilliant. I’ve listened to it like a million times, and I still get chills.
The song’s lyrics imply Lily believed the couple had an understanding allowing them to each have sexual encounters with other people, as long as they kept it secret, involved paying for it, and weren’t seeking emotional attachments.
She’s singing about questioning a relationship: how long it’s been happening, and whether it’s just physical or involves real feelings. He promised to keep it secret, confined to private encounters, and never public.
I have no reason to believe a word he says. I strongly suspect he cheated on me while we were at home.
The song’s chorus goes like this: ‘We had a deal – keep it quiet and subtle. There was supposed to be money involved, exchanged with people we didn’t know. But you, Madeline, are different.’
The song includes spoken parts where the character Madeline sends Lily text messages, bluntly stating their relationship has always been purely physical and there’s no emotional bond.
We only communicate when we’re together, and he always speaks about you with great respect.
Madeline then added that she was very sorry to hear he was in so much pain and didn’t want to be the reason he was upset. She said he’d told her he knew what was happening and had agreed to it.
Honestly, if he’s not telling the truth about this, I need to know. I really can’t stand dishonesty, and I definitely don’t want to be involved with anything built on lies. It just goes against everything I believe in.
The Daily Mail has revealed the identity of ‘Madeline’ as Natalie Tippett, a costume designer. She reportedly met David, who is 16 years older than her, while working on the Netflix film We Have A Ghost in New Orleans in 2021.
The affair allegedly started soon after filming began, just one year after David and Lily got married in Las Vegas.
After filming wrapped up, the actor allegedly had Natalie flown to his home in Atlanta, and their affair continued while he was still with Lily.
The singer famously found out her husband was cheating after discovering his profile on the exclusive Raya dating app and realizing the connection.
She created her own account on the dating app, posing as a woman seeking other women, and discovered her soon-to-be ex-husband had already made a profile.
In an October interview with The Times, Lily hinted that David didn’t respect the boundaries they’d set in their relationship, and also discussed how technology has made it simpler to be unfaithful.
Healthy relationships generally have clear limits. However, it feels like people aren’t respecting those limits as much lately, and things are becoming unclear.
Dating apps can make people feel easily replaceable, creating the belief that if a relationship isn’t working, there are always plenty of other options available with just a swipe on your phone.
Ten months before “West End Girl” came out, it became known that the breakup had led Lily to get therapy.
According to The Mail on Sunday, the singer’s mental health worsened considerably after she came back from vacation and returned to her New York home in January.
Lily, the mother of Ethel, 14, and Marnie, 13, reportedly became upset while at her Brooklyn home thinking about her ex-husband, Sam Cooper, being with someone else in the city. The thought ‘triggered’ a strong emotional reaction in her.
Going home was really difficult for Lily. David used to be someone she relied on, but now just being around him causes her pain.
Okay, so things were really tough, and after getting the kids settled back home and taking them to school at the start of the term, I knew I needed to prioritize my own well-being. I actually ended up checking into rehab a day early – I was feeling incredibly unstable and just desperately needed to remove myself from the situation. It was a really difficult decision, but ultimately the right one for me and my family.
She spent several weeks at a retreat in the US, participating in both group and individual therapy. During these sessions, she was encouraged to explore and understand her feelings.
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2026-04-05 15:20