Jack Antonoff reveals how he feels performing songs about ex Margaret Qualley in rare comment about split

Jack Antonoff finds performing songs about his ex Margaret Qualley to be a “really beautiful” experience.

The Grammy winner admitted to The Guardian, in an interview published Sunday, that he was initially “worried” to sing about Qualley, whom he split from earlier this year.

After thinking “long and hard” about tweaking his set list for his Bleachers band’s tour, the frontman decided, “No, this is the deal. The deal I’ve made with my audience is that I’m going to tell you honestly how I feel and I’m going to risk at any moment having to stand behind it for f–king ever.’”

Antonoff, 42, added that there is “great power” to sharing “terrible sadness and pain … anyone can relate to.”

He shared, “It’s actually been really beautiful. I mean, for people to come together, to know what I write a song about, to know how that must feel for me now, to know what that song means to you as an audience member, to just hold it all and sort of celebrate.”

Ultimately, the musician “would rather live through something publicly than even escape it privately.”

Antonoff explained, “I don’t rewrite the past, I have no shame about the things I’ve said. My life has been dedicated to making it impossible for me to rewrite the past.

“I’m standing there, singing about how I felt during the good times, so when the bad times hit I can’t look myself in the mirror and pretend that those times didn’t exist,” he concluded.

Qualley’s rep did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.

News broke in July that Antonoff and the actress, 32, had called it quits after nearly three years of marriage.

The duo, notably, wed in New Jersey in August 2023 in front of a slew of A-listers.

They started dating two years prior.

Qualley has yet to break her silence on the separation, while Antonoff joked about the breakup during a September performance at the Troubadour.

When an audience member requested Antonoff play “Let’s Get Married,” the producer cheekily quipped, “Absolutely not. Read the news, brother.”.”

Page Six heard in July that the former couple “have no plans to reconcile.”

However, a source told us, “Although they are done for good, they are still communicating and being respectful of one another.”