The Age Gap Between Lana Del Rey & New Husband Jeremy Dufrene Is Bigger Than We Thought

In news that shocked music fans, Lana Del Rey secretly married her alligator tour guide boyfriend, Jeremy Dufrene, in a hush-hush ceremony on September 26, 2024. The surprising development came after the 39-year-old singer and her now-husband, 49, reportedly obtained a marriage license in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, just days prior to their wedding, on September 23. Records obtained by the BBC demonstrated that the "Summertime Sadness" hitmaker signed the paperwork using her legal name, Elizabeth Woolridge Grant. The couple decided on an intimate ceremony in Des Allemands, Louisiana, where Dufrene works as an airboat captain for a local tour service. In photos published by the Daily Mail, Del Rey beamed with joy as she and Dufrene said their vows in front of their closest family and friends. 

The happy, yet unlikely, couple is believed to have met sometime in 2019. However, they didn't spark relationship buzz until August 2024, when the singer was spotted holding hands with Dufrene at a music festival in the U.K. As a source told People the day after their wedding, "They initially met a few years ago the first time and then reconnected earlier this year. It's been kind of a whirlwind romance." The insider confirmed that Del Rey's friends were supportive of the relationship regardless and wanted her to get hitched. They also said that, despite the 10-year age gap between the newlyweds, "Jeremy is different from the men that Lana meets in the entertainment world." As the source elaborated, "He's a great guy. He's charming and charismatic in a Southern way, very much a gentleman, and he treats Lana really well. She's an old soul."

Unfortunately, Lana Del Rey's relationship with her husband, Jeremy Dufrene, has faced plenty of pushback from diehard fans not only due to the couple's sizeable age gap but also because of Dufrene's past relationships. According to The Sun, the alligator tour guide was previously married to a woman named Gina, with whom he shares three children. Before getting together with Del Rey, the boat captain was also engaged to his ex-girlfriend, Kelli Welsh, for over a decade but they called time on their relationship in October 2023. Welsh expressed her surprise over the sudden development in an interview with the Daily Mail, explaining, "I am in shock because we were engaged for 12 years, and he got married after one month. But I am happy for him."

Welsh, who initially dated Dufrene prior to his marriage to Gina, stressed that she has no bad feelings towards her ex despite this surprising turn of events, gushing, "He is a very protective, hardworking, manly man. He needed to get out of his comfort zone. He was used to bayou life and being out on the swamp. He is deserving of this blessing." Moreover, Welsh believes that Defrene's love for Del Rey is completely genuine. "I will say that he really does look happy with her," she pointed out. "And she does with him, which is a good thing to see. It's not a fake happy — he truly is in love with her." As for the "Born to Die" singer, she was also reportedly engaged to fellow musician Clayton Johnson for less than a year before splitting in October 2021.