Lily Allen’s ‘West End Girl’ and Nora Ephron’s ‘Heartburn’, Should we Air our Dirty Laundry Through Art?

On the 24^th of October 2025, Lily Allen released her fifth album West End Girl, publicly shaming her now ex-husband, actor David Harbour, for wanting and pursuing an open relationship whilst married. The album described in detail the conversations that surrounded her then husband’s request and the breakdown of their marriage. Similarly, on the 1^st of January 1983, Nora Ephron released her novel Heartburn, discussing her experiences during her marriage to Carl Bernstein, an infamous journalist. The novel detail’s themes of betrayal and revenge, as his affair is revealed whilst she is pregnant with their second child. The book was later turned into a film starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. Both Allen and Ephron have used their relationships and specifically their husband’s infidelity to produce their own respective art. The question on my mind is whether this public form of exposition is morally correct.

When looking to Lily Allen’s new album, we see and hear Allen extremely honestly detail the break down of her marriage to Stranger Things actor David Harbour, alluding heavily to his desire for an open relationship whilst she was working in London. The album does not sugar coat any aspect of their conversations and marriage, describing their sex life and her then husband’s sexual requests. The majority of reviews have been good for the album, with people appreciating the honesty. For example, The Independent said ‘This musical of deceit and suffering puts her in the starring role, seizing control of her narrative and holding little back. Those distinctive, creamy vocals sound sad and deflated, as if she’s processing in real time.’ (Hannah Ewans, 2025).

It seems in the most part, that this album came at the right time, we all seem to be enamoured with the brutal honesty that this album gives, probably due to the contrast this album has to other pop music at this time. However, some critics have said the lyricism is too much, in songs such as ‘P*ssy Palace’ she details the sex toys she found in her husbands flat upon returning his things and there is a lot more detail in other songs featured. This has led critics to question the motives behind the album, with Esquire’s Henry Wong stating Allen is weaponizing oversharing with this album and questioning ‘Does Lily Allen have WhatsApp?’. It seems that there is a group of people who aren’t so accepting of Allen’s betrayal album and airing her and Harbour’s dirty laundry so publicly. Are they right? Should she just have put it in a WhatsApp group?

Around 20 years prior to Allen’s album, the Oscar nominated screenwriter Nora Ephron released her tell-all food-focused memoir Heartburn. The book is thinly fictionized, mirroring the end of Ephron’s own marriage to Carl Bernstein; the book highlights female independence during second wave feminism and marital autonomy, once again honestly depicting her husband’s affair. Similarly to Allen’s album, Ephron’s novel is brutally honest and makes no room for spoilers, Mark’s affair (based on Bernstein’s) is alluded to and pretty much revealed at the beginning of the book, the rest of the novel just details the further breakdown of their marriage, it’s no shock to readers as they can see the divorce coming from a mile away, similar to how in Allen’s West End Girl, we as listeners already know that the marriage between Allen and Harbour has failed. What this means is that both women are able to be completely honest and authentic in their respective work and can present their ex-husbands how they want to, no need for flattery.

Ephron’s book was later turned into a film starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. In 1985, The Washington Post reported that Bernstein had threatened to stop production of the film based on his portrayal in the book, worried about his reputation as a father and a journalist. He did not manage to stop production of the film; however, his effervescent dismissal of the film leads me to question how different Jack Nicholson’s character would appear had Ephron been able to write it as close to the book as she could. There’s plenty of speculation as to what Lily Allen will do next, some saying she may turn the album into a play, would Harbour have the same reaction Bernstein did? If he did, it would be hard for him to stop it; his reputation has already been tainted in my view, as with most other fans.

However, is this right? Should we be allowed to write a book or album about a cheating ex and ruin their reputation? These two examples I have given are by far not the only ones; this is something people have doing in all different art forms for a very long time. There are mixed opinions on this topic, with some people saying it’s bitter and cruel, other people saying they deserved it and it’s good there isn’t as much censorship anymore in society so we can display our grievances.

In my opinion, I think yes, we should be allowed to air our dirty laundry through art. Carl Bernstein is still alive and has had an illustrious journalistic career – earning a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the Watergate scandal. Similarly, David Harbour is still a successful actor, just having acted in season 5 of Stranger Things and has also received a Tony award nomination for his role in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Furthermore, these men’s lives and careers have not been ruined by Allen’s or Ephron’s work so let people express themselves through art, as Lily Allen’s West End Girl will not be the last time someone uses art to air their dirty laundry.

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