The woman who inspired Lily Allen’s album ‘West End Girl,’ and was at the center of the singer’s difficult split, recently turned 35 and celebrated her birthday.
Lily referenced Natalie Tippett, who had an affair with her ex-husband David Harbour and is a mother and costume designer, as ‘Madeline’ in her music.
Natalie marked her birthday by sharing funny messages from friends who jokingly referenced the ‘Madeline’ story.
Natalie posted a workout photo and playfully compared herself to Madeline, the character from the classic children’s book. She shared the book’s illustration alongside a picture of a building named The Madeline, and added a laughing emoji to the post.
The post came after Lily herself had dressed up as the character for Halloween.
Natalie shared a birthday message from a friend that playfully wished her a happy birthday, initially addressing her as ‘Mad’ before correcting it to ‘Natalie!’
Natalie posted a couple of sweet photos to her social media, showing her hugging her daughter, whose face she covered up. She captioned the post with just the number ’35’.
She also reposted a picture of herself drinking a glass of champagne and some bikini selfies.
Lily’s highly praised album honestly and painfully describes the end of her four-year marriage to David, the star of Stranger Things. Many of the songs express her anger and hurt over his affair.
The lyrics were painfully honest, making it clear that ‘Madeline’ was having an affair with her husband.
Lily messaged her, directly asking how long the affair had been happening and whether it was just physical or involved feelings.
I was scrolling through everything, and suddenly everyone was talking about this Madeline person! Millions of us, seriously! We were all desperately trying to figure out who she was, what she did, anything! And Lily… oh, Lily just perfectly captured what we were all thinking with that lyric – I mean, she straight-up asked, ‘Who the hell is Madeline?!’ It was all anyone could talk about!
The song quickly reminded people of a track on Beyoncé’s 2016 album, Lemonade, which sparked global debate about who ‘Becky with the good hair’ was – a woman rumored to have had a relationship with Jay-Z.
Although Lily has emphasized that Madeline, like Becky, is a fake name, it’s sparked a search for the real person who inspired the song—and several others on her new album, which is her first in seven years and fueled by anger.
But it was The Mail on Sunday can exclusively reveal the identity of ‘Madeline’ as Natalie.
A mother from New Orleans revealed to a newspaper that she was the inspiration behind a new album by Allen, and that she was also involved in the reasons for his divorce. She shared this information from her home in the historic Treme neighborhood.
‘Of course I’ve heard the song,’ Natalie had said, rolling her eyes.
I have a family to think about and people I need to protect. I have a young daughter, who’s two and a half, and I’m aware of what’s happening. Honestly, it’s a bit frightening for me.
Natalir and David, who is 16 years older than her at 50, reportedly met while filming the Netflix movie We Have A Ghost in New Orleans in 2021.
David starred as the main actor in the film, and Natalie was a costume designer. They supposedly began a romantic relationship soon after filming commenced.
David married Lily in Las Vegas last year. Lily has two daughters from a previous marriage: 13-year-old Ethel and 12-year-old Marnie. Lily’s previous husband was Sam Cooper.
After filming wrapped up, Harbour allegedly brought Natalie back to his home in Atlanta, and their affair continued while he was still with Lily.
Allen discovered her secret relationship when he found a revealing text on her phone. After her marriage ended, she channeled her sadness into songwriting.
In her new album, Lily Allen’s song ‘Tennis’ tells the story of discovering a suggestive text message on her partner’s phone when she returned home.
“Reading your message really upset me,” she said sadly. “I just don’t understand what’s been going on with you and tennis. If this was just about being intimate, I wouldn’t be feeling this way. You’re avoiding me, and who is Madeline?”
In the song “Madeline,” Allen alters her voice to sound like Natalie, emphasizing that her connection with Harbour has always been purely physical. She firmly states there’s never been any emotional involvement.
Natalie gave an interview to this newspaper from the cozy living room of her old-fashioned, wooden-sided house. The room was a unique mix of styles, featuring both bright neon signs and classic, beautiful furniture.
Her toddler daughter bounced around the room happily in a rainbow-coloured tutu.
She sadly confirmed that she was unaware her personal text messages had been used as lyrics in Allen’s songs.
‘Yeah,’ she sighed. ‘I just don’t feel comfortable talking about it at the moment.’
Lily and David revealed they were separating in January after being married for a little over four years. They reportedly split in December, and Lily spent the Christmas holiday alone with her children in Kenya, which is about 3,000 miles away from David.
During a conversation on her Miss Me? podcast with friend and fellow presenter Miquita Oliver, she revealed she was taking a break and experiencing panic attacks.
She explained that she’s been struggling to find joy or motivation in anything lately and isn’t doing well emotionally. She’s been feeling increasingly overwhelmed for months, and things have gotten worse. She’s finding it impossible to focus on anything other than her pain, and it’s incredibly difficult for her.
According to a source, Lily was deeply upset and sought intensive treatment at a facility costing £8,000 per week. She reportedly told friends she felt on the verge of a breakdown.
This month, she spoke with British Vogue about the difficulty of coping with the breakup without turning to drugs or alcohol.
The singer revealed in a recent interview that she hadn’t experienced intimacy while sober until she began dating her partner, Harbour. Having been sober for five years, she explained that her early life was heavily influenced by alcohol and drugs, recalling witnessing her father, actor Keith Allen, using cocaine. She stated that her first memories often involved substance use, making it difficult to recall a time when she wasn’t affected by them.
Speaking about her breakup with David, she shared with Vogue that experiencing those kinds of feelings again was incredibly painful. In the past, she would have turned to drugs and alcohol to cope, but this time she forced herself to deal with the emotions directly instead.
When asked about the breakup by GQ magazine in April, Harbour didn’t want to share details, explaining that doing so would likely create a very public and embarrassing situation.
Earlier this year, The Mail on Sunday reported that Lily suspected her partner, David, of infidelity and began investigating him.
Lily’s friends in London shared that the singer had suspected her husband of being interested in other women since last fall.
After a fast-moving romance, the couple – who initially connected on the exclusive dating app Raya – have both deleted their accounts.
Lily decided to go back on the app and see what her husband was up to, and she was shocked to find he’d been using a hidden profile for about a month.
He describes himself as being from Atlanta and visiting New York, playfully calling himself a ‘nerd’ who portrays strong characters on television. His chosen song is ‘Houses Of The Holy’ by Led Zeppelin.
According to a source, Lily was trying to discover who David was dating by checking if women on the Raya app also appeared among his Instagram followers.
When the couple split up, she already believed he was seeing someone else, and it turned out she was right.
The source added: ‘Lily has never even looked at anyone since she met David. She is devastated.’
David moved to Brooklyn, New York, in 2020 and began sharing a townhouse with Lily and her daughters after they relocated there. Lily had already enrolled her daughters in school nearby.
Last year, he purchased a house in Atlanta, about 800 miles from his previous location, so he could be near the set of Stranger Things while filming the show’s fifth and final season.
After the separation, Lily returned to London and purchased a flat – a former council house – in the neighborhood where she spent her childhood.
She explained that she’d always dreamed of living in the building, ever since she was a child. When a flat finally became available and she could afford it, she bought it immediately.
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2025-11-10 15:57