Rock icon engaged to girlfriend 18 years his junior

Thursday, 21 August 2025

Talking Heads frontman David Byrne is engaged.

The 73-year-old revealed he is engaged to his girlfriend of a decade Mala Gaonkar, 55.

Byrne referred to Gaonkar as his “fiancé” while discussing a song on his new album.

A rock icon has revealed he is engaged to his girlfriend after a decade of dating.

Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, 73, told The Times he was engaged to girlfriend Mala Gaonkar, 55.

The pair met while filming The Makers series at Stanford Arts Institute in Los Angeles in 2016.

Byrne referred to Gaonkar as his “fiancé” while discussing a song on his new album inspired by her, called Moisturising Thing.

“My fiancee will sometimes come at me with greasy hands, ready to smear my face,” he told The Times.

“And at one point I thought, 'What if I wake up and really looked younger?’”

He went on to say the message of the song, which is off his upcoming album Who Is In The Sky?, was about how people are judged by the way they look.

“You learn a lesson you didn’t expect at the start,” Byrne said.

The couple live in New York and often attend high-profile events including the Dune: Part Two premiere in 2023, and the Oscars that year.

Talking Heads were pioneers of new wave music in the 1970s, and are known for their hits Psycho Killer, Once in a Lifetime, and Burning Down the House.

Byrne pursued his own solo career after the band broke up.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated Byrne’s age. He is 73, not 77. (Amended 3.50pm on August 22)