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Louise Thomas
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Jeremy Dufrene’s ex-partner has wished him and Lana Del Rey a happy life together, after revealing she was engaged to the alligator tour guide for more than a decade.
On September 26, the “Summertime Sadness” singer, 39, tied the knot with the divorced dad, 49, in Des Allemandes, Louisiana. Two days after their nuptials, Dufrene’s ex-lover, Kelli Welsh, opened up to the Daily Mail about her former relationship with the singer’s new husband.
“I am in shock because we were engaged for 12 years, and he got married after one month,” the 45-year-old told the outlet on September 28. The two became romantically involved when they were teenagers, but eventually split up. Dufrene and Welsh then found their way back to each other after the tour guide divorced his wife, Gina.
According to the Daily Mail, the former couple were engaged in 2012, one year after they rekindled their relationship. However, they ultimately called it quits in October 2023.
Welsh, who shares a 20-year-old daughter with a man from her previous relationship, went on to praise Dufrene’s personality. “He is a very protective, hardworking, manly man,” she noted. “He has always been a giver so to have someone give to him, he deserves it. He is a very solid guy.”
“His ability to love and care and protect people makes him so attractive,” Welsh continued.
According to Welsh, Dufrene’s marriage to the Grammy nominee is just what the Louisiana native needed, as he’s someone who has become used to “bayou life and being out on the swamp.” Welsh also maintained that Dufrene and Del Rey’s love is real, despite the couple only being together for a short while.
“It’s not a fake happy – he truly is in love with her,” she said.
In pictures obtained by the Daily Mail from their wedding, Dufrene and Del Rey could be seen walking on a path behind Arthur’s Airboat Tours docks, the same bayou where Dufrene operates his swamp boat tours.
The “Video Games” vocalist wore a traditional lace gown, adding a blue ribbon in her hair as her “something blue” later in the night. Meanwhile, Dufrene donned a dark suit with a shimmery vest chain and brown loafers. Del Rey’s father, Rob Grant, as well as her sister Caroline and her brother Charlie were all in attendance.
The newlyweds reportedly met in 2019, when Del Rey was performing in Louisiana and joined Dufrene on one of his boat tours. At the time, she immediately took to Instagram to boast about her future spouse’s service and encouraged her followers to book a tour too.
It wasn’t until August this year that Del Rey and Dufrene were spotted out together as more than friends, when they were photographed holding hands at the Leeds Festival. One month later, the pair attended model Karen Elson’s wedding to Electric Lady Studios owner Lee Foster in New York City.
