Talking Heads’ David Byrne, 73, engaged to girlfriend after almost 10 years of dating

Talking Heads star David Byrne, 73, engaged to girlfriend after 9 years of dating
Talking Heads star David Byrne, 73, engaged to girlfriend after 9 years of dating

Talking Heads lead singer David Byrne is engaged to his girlfriend, Mala Gaonkar, after almost a decade of dating. The 73-year-old musician and Mala, 55, started dating after meeting in 2016 while working on a production for The Makers series at the Stanford Arts Institute.

The star confirmed the happy news during an interview, where he referred to Mala as his fiancée. David talked about his new album, Who Is The Sky?, and where the track, Moisturizing Thing, came to fruition when he referred to Mala as his fiancée.

He said: “My fiancée will sometimes come at me with greasy hands, ready to smear my face. And at one point I thought, ‘What if I wake up and really looked younger?’”

David Byrne and Mala Gaonkar
David and Mala are engaged

Speaking to The Times, he added: “But there’s a message, too. About how people judge us by the way we look. You learn a lesson you didn’t expect at the start.”

The Psycho Killer musician and his fiancée live together in New York, with the two keeping their relationship low key.

They attended a few public events together over the last decade, including a screening for My Mother’s Wedding this month, Dune: Part Two’s premiere last year as well as the 2023 Academy Awards.

David Byrne
The duo have been dating for almost a decade

David shares a daughter with his ex-wife Adelle Lutz, who he was married to from 1987 to 2004. Meanwhile, Mala’s ex-husband is financier Oliver Haarmann, Reese Witherspoon’s now partner.

Mala, who has two sons with Oliver, is a financier and has a Master’s Degree from Harvard University. She even founded SurgoCap Partners in 2022.

During his recent interview, David discussed the possibility of reuniting Talking Heads. He called the idea a ‘fool’s errand’ 34 years after the group split up.

Fans were hoping for a reunion when the band teased an announcement in June. However, it was simply the music video for Psycho Killer, which starred Saoirse Ronan.

The group haven’t performed together since 1984, but had a small reunion in 2023.

“On a practical level, trying to recreate the feeling that people had when they were in their early 20s? The time that they first heard that music? That’s a fool’s errand. And besides, I’m really enjoying what I’m doing,” David explained.

Members of Talking Heads include David, drummer Chris Frantz, bassist Tina Weymouth and guitarist-keyboardist Jerry Harrison. The group helped to pioneer new wave music and was one of the most critically acclaimed groups of the 80s.