Lana Del Rey may have a lot to thank Jack Antonoff for when it comes to music, but in a speech at the Variety Hitmakers ceremony over the weekend, the 39-year-old pop star revealed that she’s actually most grateful for the way the producer inspired her to get married to husband Jeremy Dufrene.
While presenting Antonoff with the producer of the decade award at the brunch on Saturday, Del Rey — who tied the knot with the alligator tour guide in late September — said that her longtime collaborator’s marriage to actress Margaret Qualley pushed her to wait for the perfect significant other. “Most of all, I’m grateful for him for the example that he gave me in his marriage to Margaret,” she told the crowd in Los Angeles.
“I saw the way he looked at her when he met her, and he’s a big reason why I waited so long to get married, and why I met my amazing husband,” the “Summertime Sadness” singer continued at the podium. “I really feel like there’s a singer’s curse around meeting an honest partner who has no skin in the game, no dog in the race.”
The 11-time Grammy nominee added, “It’s super nerve-racking to have to hold onto an innocent perception of how things could go when you’re in an industry where maybe your values or your morals don’t quite match up with what’s going on — especially when people think that you probably don’t have any morals or values.”
After reportedly first meeting in 2019 when Del Rey took a swamp boat tour with Dufrene as her guide, the couple is believed to have started dating about five months prior to their Louisiana nuptials. In October, the “A&W” musician called her husband her “one and only” in Instagram comments, adding, “We’re very happy.”
Del Rey is now gearing up to release her long-awaited studio album The Right Person Will Stay, which Antonoff worked on. Slated for May 2025, the LP is expected to find the star embracing a more country sound, which she first teased at the Billboard x NMPA Songwriter Awards ahead of the 2024 Grammys.
“We’re going country!” she said at the time. “It’s happening.”
See Del Rey open up about her marriage while presenting to Antonoff at the Hitmakers brunch below.
