Deep Thoughts with Este Haim

Did you know that Este Haim is in the sex Purge movie? I didn’t either, until I saw that good old People dot com has published multiple snippets from its “exclusive” interview with her at the One Night Only premiere. 

She apparently “kept trying to get [the star of the movie, Callum Turner] to break character, and he wouldn’t do it,” describing his unwillingness to do so as “so funny.” I would perhaps describe it as “being professional” and “doing his job” but hey, potato potato. 

She also said that she and the film’s other co-star, Monica Barbaro, “definitely bonded over feeling like we were kids that wandered onto a movie set.” After this quote, People included its typical attribution: “Haim, 40, tells PEOPLE at the premiere of One Night Only in New York City.” And look, as a fellow millennial, I am very familiar with the economic realities that have prevented our generation from achieving certain markers of “adulthood,” but I’m not sure that really applies to a very famous and successful musician like Este Haim. Either way, it’s hilarious for People to include a detail that would prompt most people to immediately categorize her as middle aged (sorry!!!) after she’s identified feeling like a child. And also, for the record, I’m not sure I buy that Barbaro also felt like this; she’s not yet a household name but she was nominated for an Oscar for the Bob Dylan/Timothée Chalamet movie! That woman knows her way around a film set. 

But I think my favorite inanity of the interview was Haim’s relationship advice, based on her marriage to “tech entrepreneur” (crypto bro) Jonathan Levin. The two, who have been fairly private, got married on Dec. 31, 2025, which, yes, was less than eight months ago. And yet People is out here asking about the “secret” to her successful relationship. 

It’s unclear when the two began dating, though it’s likely been three years or so: They were first seen together at Taylor Swift’s birthday party in December 2023. I truly wish them every happiness but I also don’t think they’ve reached a milestone that legitimizes asking how they could possibly make a relationship work. Maybe there is some detail that makes their relationship especially difficult, like long distance or home renovations or caring for an ailing family member or a dark family secret that threatens to upend their happiness, but otherwise … get back to us in 10 years, Este! 

To save you a click, her answer is the deeply uninspiring “You should always be dating. You should always be working toward having a better relationship.” I’m sure some people do need to hear that—relationships aren’t set it and forget it—but then she followed it up with the declaration that always bums me out: “Relationships are work, and I think people forget about that.” This is basically what three-quarters of modern dating advice says (especially the kind that’s targeted at women), so this isn’t a uniquely bad take or anything, but I don’t think we should think of companionship and comfort the same way we think of trading our labor for money. Call me a romantic! 

(Hilaria Baldwin was also giving marriage advice last week. Now there is a woman whose relationship—with Alec Baldwin—has weathered a series of sometimes-self-inflicted storms, or, as she put it, “our ups and our downs and our sideways.” Even aside from all her bizarre life choices, I think she’s earned the right to talk about what makes her marriage work.)

Anyway, Este Haim, I’m sorry for critically reading the like, 120 seconds of free-associating you did with a People reporter but sometimes, that’s my job. Wishing you crazy kids a healthy working relationship.  

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• Jared Padalecki spent the weekend trying to figure out Perez Hilton’s deal. [Just Jared]
• Aubrey Plaza and Christopher Abbott are officially parents. Mazel tov! [EW]
• Adult woman Kylie Jenner had a “princess kitty”-themed birthday party. What’s that saying about famous people staying the age at which they get famous? [Vogue]
• Maybe the answer to Raye’s famous question is “accepting an Oscar.” [Page Six]
• Obsessed with DeuxMoi’s dogged reporting on the extent of Ice Spice and Tobey Maguire’s relationship. [DeuxMoi]