Two months after the Lily Allen song about her apparent affair, the “real life Madeline” has spoken out about her relationship with David Harbour.
In October, Lily Allen released her new album West End Girl. This featured a bunch of allegations about her marriage with David Harbour. In one song, she alleged her former husband had broken their open relationship rules with a woman called Madeline – who was later revealed to be costume designer, Natalie Tippett.
Natalie met Harbour whilst working as a costume designer, and when he was the lead in Netflix movie We Have A Ghost, in 2021. She was 34, and he was 50 at the time. Their affair reportedly began shortly after shooting started. Lily Allen and David Harbour had got married the year before.
At the time, Natalie was quoted in the papers, but stayed widely hush-hush. “Of course I’ve heard the song,” she is said to have told MailOnline. “But I have a family and things to protect. I have a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, and I understand this is going on. It’s a little bit scary for me.”
Now, two months later, Natalie has shared all. In a statement on Instagram, she’s denied the affair ever happened and slammed Lily Allen for spreading “lies”. She called it “false” that she was ever in a “three year affair” with David Harbour, and instead called their relationship a “marginal part of my life.” She also called out the MailOnline’s original article, and said she “never gave an interview” speaking about the song.
via Instagram
In the Instagram post, Natalie said: “I was hoping not to speak on this, but I am tired of this false narrative being pushed and circulated. This was such a marginal part of my life, but it’s now turned into a major disruption.
“I did not have a three year affair with anyone. I’m unsure why this person wants so badly to pit people against me or create this narrative that we both know is false based on the actual messages that I have saved between us. The same ones that have now been referenced in a song without my consent.
“I feel extremely violated and I would love to stop getting messages telling me to die and other obscene things that I won’t share on this platform. I’m not sure why any fixation landed on me. I don’t weaponise women against women for the behaviour of men, especially not in an open relationship. I’m wishing her all the success, money, healing and happiness and whatever else she’s seeking through this.”
via Instagram
Natalie then explained that she is “aware of the repercussions speaking out” may cause but said she is done with “having to watch someone profit off painful lies”. She added: “I am a single mother with my own struggles, but I am happy and I wouldn’t trade my life for anything.” The post concluded: “I’m a human being not a character someone created.”
Lily has played down the rumours quite a lot since it all blew up, and instead said Madeline was constructed from multiple people. Speaking to The Times, Lily said Madeline was “a fictional character”. When asked if she was a “construct of others”, she said: “Yes”.
She also described the album 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”.
For more like this, like The Tab on Facebook. Featured image via Instagram @natalie_tippett and Gregory Pace/Shutterstock.
