Lena Dunham recently shed light on her past relationship with Jack Antonoff, making surprising comments just months before details of his separation from wife Margaret Qualley became public.
In her 2026 memoir titled “Famesick,” the “Girls” creator reflected on her nearly six-year romance with the music producer, whom she dated from 2012 to the end of 2017. She mentioned that Antonoff often spent time with an unnamed “teen pop star.”
Within the pages of her memoir, Dunham described an instance when she video-called Antonoff while visiting her grandmother. She found him in the recording studio at their apartment, collaborating with the young pop star, who she admits she didn’t feel threatened by.
The 40-year-old Golden Globe winner recounted that Antonoff, now 42, frequently stayed cloistered in a room with the teen star. She noted how this young artist, whose needs seemed as significant and intricate as her own, affectionately referred to her as “Aunt Lena” when she would make her way to the kitchen with her walker to grab more green tea.
Dunham also shared an anecdote about returning from a doctor’s appointment to find the young pop star emotionally vulnerable on their sectional couch, sobbing on Antonoff’s lap. He comforted her lovingly, saying, “your teens are for experimenting,” in a manner so soothing it nearly moved Dunham to tears.
“It had been so long since he’d spoken to me with that kind of expansive generosity,” she recalled in the book.
Though Dunham never named the woman in question, fans suspected it was Lorde.
Antonoff worked with the “Royals” singer, now 29, on her second studio album, “Melodrama,” in 2015 and 2016. At the time, Lorde — born Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor — was 18 and 19 years old.
The hitmaker denied rumors that he cheated on Dunham with Lorde, saying on X in 2018 that he was not “seeing anyone.”
“Normally i would never address rumors but i resent having the most important friendships and working relationships in my life reduced to dumb hetero normative gossip,” he wrote at the time.
“Those relationships are deeply important and sacred. with that said, im not seeing anyone. lol.”
Lorde also shut down the allegations, telling fans on Instagram Live that she and Antonoff were “not dating.”
“For the last time… I love him, he’s awesome. But we’re not dating. Please!” she said in February 2018.
In the memoir, Dunham revealed that Antonoff allegedly threw her pain medication down the toilet after they got into the “worst fight” of their relationship.
The “Too Much” alum said the couple argued when she spoke to Antonoff about her growing reliance on pain medication following her recent hysterectomy.
Dunham wrote that Antonoff’s response “was to go to the bathroom and angrily flush all my pills down the toilet, which necessitated a call to the doctor and a late-night trip to the pharmacy to get more so that I wouldn’t go into withdrawal — from any one of the drugs — overnight.”
Dunham’s memoir revelations resurfaced after news broke that Antonoff and his wife, Qualley, were calling it quits just weeks shy of their third wedding anniversary.
Page Six exclusively reported that the couple — who tied the knot in August 2023 — had challenges in their marriage.
“Jack could be very particular about how he liked things,” a source told us. “He’d often prefer for things to be done the way he thought was best, and Margaret didn’t always feel like her perspective was being heard or given the same weight.”
“Communication was definitely a challenge between him and Margaret,” the insider added.
Ahead of their breakup news, the “Maid” actress, 31, quietly deleted photos of Antonoff off her Instagram page. Qualley also did not accompany her husband to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s New York City wedding on July 3.