Music icon David Byrne, 77, reveals engagement to girlfriend, 55, after a decade of dating

Talking Heads frontman David Byrne is engaged to his long-time girlfriend, Mala Gaonkar.

Byrne, 77, and Gaonkar, 55, have been dating for over 10 years, first meeting when they were 64 and 46 in 2016 during production of The Makers series at Stanford Arts Institute.

The rocker confirmed his engagement in an interview with The Times, published on Saturday.

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He referred to Gaonkar as his "fiancee" while discussing the ninth track on his upcoming album Who Is In The Sky?

The track Moisturizing Thing is about her, he said.

"My fiancee 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?'" he told the publication.

"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."

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The pair live together in New York and are often spotted at lavish events over the years.

They were recently seen at a special screening of My Mothers Wedding in August, the Dune: Part Two premiere in 2023, and the 2023 Oscars.

Byrne was previously married to Adelle Lutz, and they share a child together.

He is a musician and frontman of the rock band Talking Heads, who were seen as pioneers of the new wave music scene in the early 70s.

They wrote hits like Psycho Killer, Once in a Lifetime and Burning Down the House.

When the band broke up, Byrne pursued a solo career.

Gaonkar was previously married to financier Oliver Haarmann, who is now dating Reese Witherspoon.

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Gaonkar is a successful financier in her own right.

She got her master's degree from Harvard before founding her own hedge fund in 2022 called SurgoCap Partners.

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Title: Music icon David Byrne, 77, reveals engagement to girlfriend, 55, after a decade of dating
Sourced From: celebrity.nine.com.au/latest/david-byrne-engaged-talking-heads-singer-mala-gaonkar-engagement/1fae40c1-f0c8-4bb6-a071-62932c8173fb
Published Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2025 06:08:00 GMT