Margaret Qualley describes married life with Jack Antonoff
Margaret Qualley was born into Hollywood royalty — and in August, started an entertainment dynasty of her own. The 28-year-old actor, who is the daughter of Andie MacDowell, married music producer Jack Antonoff in a star-studded wedding ceremony on the Jersey Shore.
The Aug. 19 event made headlines after crowds gathered to catch a glimpse of Taylor Swift, who has worked with Antonoff frequently. Channing Tatum, Zoe Kravitz, Lorde and Lana Del Rey, who also have collaborated with Antonoff, attended, too.
"I am so happy that I found my person,” Qualley recently told Harper's Bazaar about getting married. “And it’s real. It’s amazing. It’s the best feeling in the world. I’m so excited and so at ease all at once.”
Qualley previously was in relationships with “Saturday Night Live” comedian Pete Davidson and actor Shia LaBeouf. Antonoff, 39, dated “Girls” creator and star Lena Dunham and model-artist Carlotta Kohl.
Here’s what to know about Qualley.
She always wanted to get married
In an interview with Harper's Bazaar in 2021, which took place the year before she and Antonoff got engaged, she described her dream wedding as “big, drunken, with a dress that’s not too long.”
Her actual wedding dress seemed to fit the description: In photographs, she’s seen in a white, mid-length satin halter-neck dress.
Qualley has always wanted to get married, she told Harper’s. “I’ve always dreamt of getting married. There’s a girly-girl part of me that’s thought about what my wedding would be like.”
Two years later, in 2023, Qualley re-emphasized to Harper’s Bazaar that marriage was always her dream — and she let Antonoff know, too.
When she first start dating Antonoff, she walked in the Fall 2021 Virginie Viard's couture show for Chanel wearing a white, high-neck, long sleeve wedding dress. She tossed a bouquet into the audience for her finale. Qualley says she sent Antonoff as many pictures as possible of her in the wedding dress.
"I had this huge crush on him,” she said, “and it was just like, ‘What do you think?’”
She didn't share his response, but provided another instance in which they visited a mutual friend who had recently had a baby.
“I’m holding the baby,” she said, “and I’m just like, ‘What do you think?’”
She 'never had any furniture' before meeting her husband
“Until about a month before I met Jack, I never had any furniture,” she said. “I would always have these shi--y little apartments and move around from one place to another with a mattress on the floor and an Ikea lamp. I never made a home at all. I didn’t care; I cared about movies. I would use my sister’s basement in L.A. as a spot to keep my things. But I didn’t invest in that part of my life."
She said that's changed now that she's married.
“It’s really exciting now to be making a home and to have something to care for," she said. “I just want to do everything with Jack."
Growing up, she never saw her mom Andie MacDowell as famous
Qualley is the youngest of three children actor Andie MacDowell shares with Paul Qualley. They also have daughter Rainey Qualley and son Justin Qualley.
“My children are the best part of my life. I am constantly learning from them, they are my greatest teachers.My job, my work is wonderful but my children are my life,” MacDowell wrote in an Instagram post celebrating the impending birth of her first grandchild, who was born in 2022.
In a 2019 interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Qualley said she had only just watched “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” one of her mom’s most famous movies.
“Who wants to watch their mom kissing other dudes? It’s weird,” she said.
When her mom traveled for work, Qualley said her dad would joke that MacDowell "was going to work on the oil rigs in Texas," per an interview with Harper's Bazaar.
As a kid, she knew of her mom's career as an actor, but never really saw her as famous.
“I think I understood enough to be proud of her. At the same time, I didn’t love the whole movie thing when I was a kid. My mom going off to do a movie just meant she’s going to leave town and go kiss some other dude and have a pretend life that I’m not involved in.”
What movies and TV shows has Margaret Qualley been in?
After first aspiring to be ballerina, per the Hollywood Reporter, Qualley turned to acting.
Qualley’s first film appearance was in the 2013 drama “Palo Alto." She garnered more recognition for her role in HBO drama series “The Leftovers,” which she dropped out of NYU to star in, per the Hollywood Reporter.
Since then, she’s been in the nun drama “Novitiate,” the manga adaptation “Death Note,” Quentine Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and the miniseries “Fosse/Verdon,” among others.
Qualley told Harper's Bazaar in 2023 that she feels her generation has more "diverse" roles than her mother's.
“The roles are more diverse,” Qualley said. “I’m getting less scripts about girlfriends and wives than actresses of my mom’s generation did.”
She acted alongside her real-life mom in ‘Maid’
She also starred in the viral hit “Maid,” a Netflix show based on a memoir about a single mom who cleaned houses to support her and her young daughter. Qualley’s real mom, Andie MacDowell, plays her onscreen mom — and it was Qualley’s idea.
“It was such a special experience for me to be able to work with her and to put so much of my heart into something,” Qualley said on Netflix’s podcast Skip Intro.
“She was just the greatest acting partner I could ever ask for,” Qualley adds. “She goes 100% every time. I learned so much from watching her. I learned so much from everybody I work with, but to be able to learn from my mom is pretty extraordinary.”
MacDowell spoke about the experience with USA TODAY in October 2021.
“Every moment was precious for me,” she said. “I really wanted to do a good job because it meant everything to me because I was scared it would never happen again.”
She grew up in North Carolina
Qualley was born in Montana, per Another Mag, and grew up in Asheville, North Carolina.
“My mom was the only actor in Asheville,” Qualley told Another Mag, “so it makes you a bit more on display, and people are interested when there’s nothing really interesting going on.”
She's spoken about having kids
In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar in 2021, Qualley said she has "dreamt of having kids."
She re-iterated that in 2023, after her wedding: “One day I want kids, and I’m not there yet, and I want to keep doing movies."
This article was originally published on TODAY.com