David Harbour is comforted by scandal-hit ‘twin flame’ Winona Ryder… as he reels from Lily Allen’s ‘sex pervert’ claims

SCANDAL-HIT Stranger Things star David Harbour has an unlikely ally as he navigates his messy split from wife Lily Allen. 

We can reveal the actor’s on-screen lover Winona Ryder is helping him weather the storm which threatens to derail his soaring Hollywood career.

David Harbour is under public scrutiny after being painted as a ‘cheat’ and a ‘sex pervert’ in Lily Allen’s new albumCredit: Getty

Winona Ryder, Harbour’s Stranger Things lover, is helping him navigate his messy splitCredit: Alamy

Lily’s new album West End Girl, her first in seven years, dropped last weekCredit: Getty

Sources say 54-year-old Winona – herself no stranger to a string of scandals – is offering her full support to David, 50, for personal and career reasons.

Harbour’s crisis intensified when Lily, 40, stunned fans by releasing an album trashing his family man reputation.

A well-placed insider on the Netflix hit said of Heathers actress Winona: “She’s a little older than David and she’s been through the wringer herself. 

“She has his back, and she’ll be at his side next month when they start promoting the final episodes of their show. She is not a judgmental person.

“Just like she came to Johnny Depp’s defence during his scandal, she’ll be there for David because it’s clear to her that he’s getting a raw deal in all of this. 

“Winona is the last person in the world who would want to see David get cancelled. 

“They’ve just spent the last decade as scene partners making millions and millions of dollars together. 

“The bond between them is real, and the messy end of David’s marriage doesn’t change that for a second.”

Lily’s new album reveals details – or at the very least hints at them – which cast Harbour as an unsupportive husband, cheat and “sex addict”.

At its heart is a character called Madeline – recently unveiled as make-up artist Natalie Tippett – who is alleged to have had a secret relationship with him.

Incredibly, the singer hints through her lyrics that she let the Stranger Things star sleep with other women “as long as there was ­payment” — but that he broke her heart when he ­bedded “Madeline”.

The album, West End Girl, is proving a major triumph for Lily.

In all, the songs have been streamed more than eight million times worldwide on Spotify since it was released on Friday, while the album already sits at the top of the UK iTunes album chart.

While Lily has stated that the album is a mixture of fact and fiction, no doubt the real-life drama that allegedly inspired it is driving its success. 

Lily’s first body of music in seven years tells a sordid tale of sexual betrayal, which has led her legion of fans worldwide to brand the actor “evil”, “’sickening” and “the worst kind of man” online.

‘Twin flames’

Winona and Harbour have appeared together on Stranger Things since 2016Credit: Getty

Harbour plays the paternal figure to Millie Bobby Brown’s character ElevenCredit: Getty

Harbour, 45, is now public enemy number one to many.

And sources close to the star say the album has sent his entire world into a tailspin – but it’s Winona who is supporting him through it. 

After meeting on the set of Stranger Things in 2015, Harbour has said that the two are “twin flames” – a term used to describe soulmates. 

He gushed that they were “two lost individuals who don’t believe they need anything, but truly do”.

Winona, 54, was famously convicted in 2001 for shoplifting over $5,500 worth of designer clothes and accessories from a Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills.

Outsider Lily

An insider said Lily was never part of the show’s inner circleCredit: Getty

Despite their ongoing split, Harbour has been seen with Lily’s childrenCredit: Getty

So deep is her bond with Harbour that there are rumours she shared a frosty relationship with Lily who was never accepted into his inner circle. 

An insider said: “Lily Allen would spend time with David in Georgia when he was shooting the series, but she wasn’t a fixture on the Stranger Things set. 

“He has a whole family of people there who love him and support him. He didn’t need Lily to be around all the time to stroke his ego. 

“Plus, the show has always done an unusual amount of nighttime shooting, which are brutal hours and require essential personnel only because of the secrecy around the show’s storylines. 

“Lily would go to the Stranger Things premieres with David, but she was never part of the show’s inner circle the way he and Winona are.”

The source said that the personal and professional stakes could not be higher for Harbour, with the drama coming just three weeks before the streaming rollout of the final episodes of the show.

His bedroom life is on display for everybody to see, and he’ll never be the same in the eyes of his younger fans again

A source

Harbour rose to prominence in 2016 playing the burly detective Jim Hopper in the sci-fi horror series – a reliable and paternal figure to Millie Bobby Brown’s character Eleven.

Once a jobbing actor who worried about paying the bills before the series began, he has now been made so wealthy and famous by the show that he can’t risk any reputational damage. 

He got an impressive £61,000 an episode in the first series. 

This rose in seasons two and three to £269,000 an episode – that’s more than £2 million per series. 

‘A cheat and a sex pervert’

Sources say Lily’s claims will hit Harbour harder due to his young fanbaseCredit: © Jose Albornoz

Lily and Harbour began their relationship in 2019Credit: Getty

A source said: “‘Even with all of David’s success, Stranger Things is still by far the biggest hit of his career. 

“The huge problem here is that David is most famous to the under-25 crowd who grew up watching him in that show and then later cheered him on in his Marvel movies. 

“His younger fans are his bread and butter and to be painted like a cheat and a sex pervert by Lily is like a punch in the stomach to the millions of young fans who made him rich in the first place. 

“It’s a worst-case scenario moment for David, not unlike what David’s old friend Johnny Depp went through three years ago during his trial against Amber Heard. 

“His bedroom life is on display for everybody to see, and he’ll never be the same in the eyes of his younger fans again. 

“Lily has completely transformed his public image with her album, and there isn’t any going back from that.”