Lana Del Rey has always been the queen of the "unconventional." While other pop stars were busy dating boyband members or high-profile actors in the early 2010s, Lana was carving out a niche that felt like a vintage Polaroid left out in the rain. Her music—drenched in 1950s Americana, sadness, and glamour—often feels like a diary of her romantic mishaps. People love to speculate. They want to know who the "blue jeans, white shirt" guy actually was. They want to know if she really dated a cop or if it was all some elaborate performance art piece for an album cycle.
Honestly, the reality of lana del rey ex boyfriends is way more grounded than the fan theories suggest. From Scottish folk singers to reality TV police officers and, finally, a swamp tour guide in Louisiana, her dating history is a wild ride through different subcultures. It’s not just about the names; it’s about how these men influenced the sound of eras like Ultraviolence or Chemtrails Over the Country Club.
Let’s get into the specifics.
The Indie Beginnings: Barrie-James O'Neill
If you were a fan during the Born to Die era, you remember Barrie. He was the frontman of the Scottish band Kassidy. They started dating around 2011 and were basically the "it" couple of the moody indie scene. He had the long hair; she had the flower crowns. It felt permanent.
They even did a cover of "Summer Wine" together that is still a staple on Tumblr-esque mood boards. But by 2014, things hit a wall. Lana told a Swiss newspaper that they weren’t together anymore because he had "some things he had to deal with." It sounds vague, but if you listen to the title track of Ultraviolence, you can hear the echoes of a relationship that was both beautiful and incredibly heavy.
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Interestingly, they stayed friends. He actually helped her out on her 2021 album Blue Banisters. It’s one of those rare Hollywood breakups that didn't end in a total bridge-burning.
The "Live PD" Era and the Billboard Drama
This is the one that truly broke the internet. In 2019, Lana was spotted in Central Park with Sean "Sticks" Larkin. He wasn't a musician. He wasn't a "creative" in the traditional sense. He was a real-life police officer and a star on the show Live PD.
The fans were... confused.
Why was the woman who sang about "Diet Mountain Dew" and "Born to Die" dating a cop from Oklahoma? They went to the Grammys together in 2020, looking surprisingly normal. But the split in March 2020 led to some of Lana's most iconic "petty" moments.
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When she released Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, she famously put up exactly one billboard to promote it. Where? In Sean Larkin’s hometown of Tulsa. When people asked why, she basically said, "It’s personal."
During a 2023 performance at Hyde Park, she even tweaked the lyrics to "Chemtrails Over the Country Club" to imply that he might have gotten married while they were still in couples therapy. Yikes.
The Engagement Rumors: Clayton Johnson and Evan Winiker
Lana seems to have a thing for musicians she meets in low-key ways.
- Clayton Johnson: They reportedly met on a dating app in 2020. He was in a band called The Johnsons. For about a year, fans saw her wearing a massive diamond ring on The Tonight Show, but the relationship eventually fizzled out by late 2021 without a formal "we're over" announcement.
- Evan Winiker: A managing partner at Range Media Partners and a former musician himself. In early 2023, the engagement rumors started up again when she showed up at the Billboard Women in Music event with more jewelry on that finger.
Neither of these "engagements" ever made it to the altar. Lana has always been very protective of her private life, often letting the rumors swirl until she’s already moved on to the next chapter.
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Why Jeremy Dufrene Changed Everything
By late 2024, the conversation around lana del rey ex boyfriends shifted entirely because she finally stopped "dating" and got married. The internet nearly imploded when it was revealed she wed Jeremy Dufrene, an alligator tour guide from Louisiana.
They met back in 2019 when she took one of his tours, but they didn't get romantic until years later. He’s not a celebrity. He works in the swamps. He’s a "manly man," as his ex-fiancée Kelli Welsh described him in interviews.
Lana seems happier than ever. In January 2026, they were spotted at a Golden Globes party at Chateau Marmont, looking totally in love. She’s even defended him against online trolls, proving that she’s done with the "unstable" romances of her 20s. He told her, "I work with alligators—I have tough skin," when she worried about the fame affecting him.
A Quick Look at the Timeline
- 2011–2014: Barrie-James O'Neill (The indie-folk era)
- 2014–2015: Francesco Carrozzini (The Italian photographer)
- 2017: G-Eazy (The brief, messy rapper fling)
- 2019–2020: Sean "Sticks" Larkin (The cop era)
- 2020–2021: Clayton Johnson (The lockdown romance)
- 2022: Jack Donoghue (The "Salem" band rumors)
- 2024–Present: Jeremy Dufrene (Husband)
Lana’s history shows a woman looking for authenticity rather than a resume. She doesn't care if a guy is a millionaire or a photographer for Vogue; she cares if he understands the "old soul" vibe she carries.
If you're looking to understand her music better, stop looking at the charts and start looking at these names. Each one is a footnote in a song you probably have on repeat.
To really get the full picture of her journey, you should go back and listen to the lyrics of Blue Banisters and Ocean Blvd with these names in mind. You’ll start to see the "Tulsa" references and the "alligator" nods in a completely different light. It turns out, Lana wasn't just writing fiction—she was writing her life.