“Break free and leave us in ruins”

If you gather together all the rumours about Jack Antonoff, the reputational portrait that can be pieced together by Lena Dunham’s anecdotes and, of course, the social media projections that have infested our timelines, Taylor Swift’s “tolerate it” from the evermore album might work as the soundtrack for Margaret Qualley’s decision to leave.

This is conjecture. What’s confirmed is that Margaret and Jack are indeed separated. Shortly after my post about the online speculation about their marriage that started circulating when Jack showed up to the TNT wedding without Margaret, PEOPLE had the exclusive, that they have separated and that it’s been “rocky” between them. In my post yesterday I wrote that there have been “rumours floating around LA that Margaret and Jack have been seen fighting in public and PEOPLE seems to be alluding to the friction, with their source saying that [Margaret and Jack] argue a lot, and between her career and him constantly being on the road or working late in the studio, it’s been difficult”.

Needless to say, someone on their respective teams was watching the online discourse and decided to just get it over with instead of prolonging the speculation. Strategically it’s a smart move – to give people the answer instead of adding to the intrigue and thus both parties can get to what’s next. Which is why I think it’s Margaret who initiated the action, considering her next release is a romance, Love of Your Life. There was an intense bidding process over this project, production wrapped on that movie last fall, they haven’t announced when it’s coming out but I can’t imagine it’s not ready for later this year. In the film, Margaret plays a woman, single after the loss of her husband, and has to find a way forward… with Aaron Pierre and Patrick Schwarzenegger who co-star; also Ryan Gosling is one of the producers. Lemonade out of lemons might be the approach. So the timing here makes it that much more interesting.