Sometimes, it’s the kids that know best. David Harbour and Lily Allen decided to get married in Las Vegas after a particularly pointed comment from her kids.
“We were riding around at the beginning of the [coronavirus] pandemic — she has two kids, these beautiful daughters, 8 and 9 — and we were riding bikes out in the country trying to figure out what we were gonna do for the next year or however long it was going to take,” the Stranger Things star recalled during a June 2021 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! “And the little one was riding along and she was going like, ‘David, Dad, David, Dad.’ Because the ‘d’ got her confused. And the older one got very upset with that, which I understand, and she was like, ‘He’s not our dad! He’s not our dad!‘”
He continued: “And the younger one was like, ‘Well, what is he? He’s kind of our dad.’ She’s like, ‘No, he’s not.’ ‘He’s kind of our stepdad.’ ‘No, he’s not.’ And she goes, ‘What is he?’ And she goes, ‘He’s just some guy in our lives!’ … I was like, ‘I need to marry this woman.'”
Allen shares her two daughters, Ethel and Marnie, with ex-husband Sam Cooper, who she married in 2011. The couple separated in 2016, and she was first linked to Harbour in August 2019. The Black Widow actor popped the question one year later before he and Allen tied the knot in an Elvis-officiated ceremony in Las Vegas in September 2020.
“In a wedding officiated by the king himself, the people’s princess wed her devoted, low born, but kind credit card holder in a beautiful ceremony lit by the ashen skies courtesy of a burning state miles away in the midst of a global pandemic,” Harbour wrote via Instagram at the time, sharing photos from the ceremony and the subsequent celebration at In-N-Out with Allen’s daughters. “Refreshments were served at a small reception following.”
The “Fear” singer, who was unflinchingly honest about her marriage to Cooper in the wake of their split, credited the success of her relationship with Harbour to their communication and her sexual awakening. “A lot of this journey was not unrelated to the deterioration of my last marriage,” she told Womanizer in October 2020. “I definitely had a sort of sexual awakening in my late 20s. And by the way, I’m not blaming this on my ex-husband; it absolutely wasn’t his fault.”
She continued: “It was my fault because I wasn’t feeling empowered and I wasn’t able at that point to communicate my wants and needs, and so things broke down. I definitely don’t want that to happen again. I’m very much in love and happy in this relationship [with David], and communication in all areas is important.”
Keep scrolling to see Harbour and Allen’s complete relationship timeline:
The Hellboy star was first linked to Allen in August 2019 after they attended a play together in London. Shutterstock (2)
The duo appeared to confirm their romance two months later, when they were photographed kissing while on a walk around New York City. Just days after their romantic outing, Allen and Harbour made their red carpet debut as a couple at a Skin Cancer Foundation event. LRNYC/MEGA
The "LDN" singer sparked engagement rumors in late 2019 when she was photographed wearing a diamond ring. However, Allen didn't confirm their engagement until May 2020. After a fan pointed out the presence of a ring in a selfie she posted at the time, the My Thoughts Exactly author teased that she was following the "first rule of engagement club." Christopher Polk/People/Shutterstock
"I wasn’t able at that point to communicate my wants and needs, and so things broke down [with my ex-husband]," Allen told Womanizer one month after the wedding, explaining that she and Harbour focus on communication. "I definitely don’t want that to happen again. I’m very much in love and happy in this relationship [with David], and communication in all areas is important." Broadimage/Shutterstock
That same month, she teased the possibility of expanding her family with the End of Watch actor. “I think so,” Allen told The Sunday Times at the time when asked about having more kids. “Especially now [my daughter] Marnie is getting so big. It’s like, ‘No, my babies!’ ... [I miss having] little terrors running around the house." Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
Harbour revealed to Jimmy Kimmel that his stepdaughters played a key role in his decision to marry Allen. After Ethel described him as "just some guy in our lives," the New York native was inspired to take the next step to avoid "the emotional fallout.” Kristin Callahan/Shutterstock
The Equalizer actor gave some insight into the start of his romance with Allen, telling The New York Times that they began dating while he was in the middle of filming Black Widow. “It’s a true testament to my undeniable charisma when I say that my wife met me at 280 pounds with this beard and this hair,” he joked in July 2021. "We went on a date at The Wolseley [restaurant] in London, and she really fell for me at my worst, physically and hair-wise." After filming wrapped, Harbour began losing the weight he gained for the role, and it took his now-wife some time to get used to his new look. “So as the thing went on, I started losing the weight and working out,” he explained. “And she honestly has some mixed feelings about it.” Gregory Pace/Shutterstock
"[Stranger Things] sort of opened my heart in a lot of different ways. And one of the ways [was that] it made me realize how thin my existence was without a family," Harbour said during a July 2021 appearance on the “That Scene With Dan Patrick” podcast. "I think there was something in Hopper that had a deep need in family. And there was something in me that had it too that I wasn’t aware of. [This] role allowed me to do that in my real life." Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock
When Allen was nominated for best actress at the 2022 Olivier Awards — the U.K. equivalent of the Tony Awards — for her performance in 2:22 A Ghost Story, Harbour was by her side to cheer her on. Courtesy Lily Allen/Instagram
"Zaddy Warbucks and me at the #metgala2022 in @chanelofficial," Allen wrote via Instagram in May 2022, posting a snapshot of the couple posing on the red carpet at the Met Gala. The next day, she shared a mirror selfie taken before she and Harbour headed to the event, joking, "This is the only other photo i have in my phone from met night. Sorry. I’m so bad at content." David Fisher/Shutterstock
“I was in London alone, doing Black Widow, on this app, going on dates and stuff. And yeah, I started texting with her, she was in Italy at the time — we got together, went on a date at the Wolseley, and it was, you know, she’s f--king unbelievable,” the Stranger Things star told British GQ about his introduction to Allen. Harbour also opened up about the moment he knew the musician was The One. "It was our third date. I was just in this phase, where I was like, I’m just going to be brutally honest about everything, because why lie? And I told her something about my life, about my beliefs,” he shared. “It would take a really extraordinary person to be accepting of the things that I said. And I remember thinking, 'Wow, that’s somebody I want to be around.'" Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock
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