THE RUNDOWN
- Sources have told The Daily Mail that David Harbour, 50 and Natalie Tippett, 34, have reconnected.
- In October, Tippett came forward as Harbour’s former mistress, the ‘Madeline’ of Lily Allen’s West End Girl album.
- Both Harbour and Tippett were spotted at the Thermea Spa Village in Winnipeg, Canada, this September.
- Their relationship was thought to have ended two years ago.
David Harbour is about to return to our screens as Jim Hopper in Stranger Things — but tabloids are speculating he may also be back with his former mistress, Natalie Tippett.
Natalie Tippet, 34, first became embroiled in Lily Allen and David Harbour’s divorce saga (at least in the public eye) when Allen dropped her breakup album West End Girl. Tippett is believed to have inspired Allen’s scathing track ‘Madeline’, in which she exchanges desperate messages with her husband’s lover and “Tennis”.
The heat on Harbour had only just begun to cool after a string of PR disasters: an album from his ex Lily Allen, a piece of “autofiction” that painted him as a gaslighting cheater, followed closely by reports of bullying allegations from his Stranger Things co-star Millie Bobby Brown.
Now, The Daily Mail is reporting that his romance with Tippett may have been rekindled. It was previously believed that David Harbour and Natalie Tippett’s relationship, and the events referenced in the song “Madeline,” had ended two years ago. But sources have noted that both Tippett and Harbour were reportedly at Thermea Spa Village in Winnipeg, Canada, as recently as this September.
On September 5, Tippett shared a carousel of images on Instagram titled “lately.” One photo showed her sitting by a campfire outside the spa, cosy in a brown jacket. Harbour, 50, was in Winnipeg filming Violent Night 2, and was reportedly seen at Thermea Spa Village several times during the shoot. A fan who spotted the Stranger Things actor there wrote on Facebook on October 13: “It’s a good thing for stars like David Harbour that you can’t have your cell phone with you at Thermea Spa. He was sitting right beside my wife and I in the sauna! He’s in Winnipeg shooting a movie.”
Tippett, who lives in New Orleans with her young daughter, some 1600 miles from the spa, was working on the project, leading to speculation that the two may have reconnected.
Harbour wrapped filming on Violent Night 2 on October 15, just nine days before Lily Allen released West End Girl, an album that offered an excruciating (and butt plug–filled) account of their marital breakdown. One of its most discussed tracks was Madeline, which featured text exchanges between Allen and a woman she believed was having an affair with:
I know none of this is your fault, messaging you feels kind of assaultive
Saw your text, that’s how I found out, tell me the truth and his motives
I can’t trust anything that comes out of his mouth
No, I can’t trust anything that comes out of his mouthHow long has it been going on? Is it just sex or is there emotion?
He told me it would stay in hotel rooms, never be out in the open
Why would I trust anything that comes out of his mouth?
Oh, why would I trust anything that comes out of his mouth?We had an arrangement
Be discreet and don’t be blatant
There had to be payment
It had to be with strangers
But you’re not a stranger, MadelineThere had to be payment
It had to be with strangers
But you’re not a stranger, Madeline
Naturally, fans were curious to know who “Madeline” was. On October 28, Tippett came forward, claiming she was the woman referenced in the track — and that the messages in the lyrics were, in fact, her actual exchanges with Allen.
While she told The Mail on Sunday the attention had been “a little bit scary,” she has since reposted messages from friends referring to her as Madeline, including one birthday tribute that read: “Happy birthday Madeline—oops, I mean Natalie!”
One source told Page Six: “We know that he and Natalie have been together recently.”
Another friend shared an image of the character Madeline from Ludwig Bemelmans’s classic children’s books — again, reposted by Tippett to her followers. Not one to be left out of the fun, Lily Allen dressed as Madeline for Halloween.
Tippett and Harbour met on the set of the 2021 Netflix film We Have a Ghost, which was filmed in New Orleans. Harbour had met Allen on the VIP dating app Raya in 2019; the pair were married a year later. On West End Girl, Allen appears to suggest Harbour’s infidelity began in 2021, while she was starring in the West End play 2:22 A Ghost Story — and that during the run, he asked for an open marriage, something she reluctantly agreed to (and, clearly, came to regret).
Neither Harbour nor Tippett has commented on the rumour.
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