The camera captures everything. But sometimes the most revealing moments happen when the lens stops rolling. Margaret Qualley just stripped away more than her inhibitions during a candid New York City photoshoot. She bared her soul about love, loneliness, and finding her person.
The 30-year-old actress made a startling confession in Cosmopolitan’s Fall 2025 cover story. She admits to feeling profoundly isolated in every relationship before meeting her husband, Jack Antonoff. “In every other relationship I’ve ever been in, I still felt really lonely because I wasn’t with my person,” Qualley revealed. The admission cuts deep into her romantic past.
This revelation transforms how we understand her journey to love. Qualley spent years molding herself into different versions of perfection for various partners. Each relationship demanded a new persona. She became a chameleon of romantic expectations. “I spent so many years trying to be someone’s perfect girl, and that girl changed over and over again,” she explained. The exhausting cycle finally ended when she met the Bleachers frontman.
Margaret Qualley Reveals How She Felt ‘Really Lonely’ in Past Relationships Until Finding Her Perfect Match
Their love story began at a rooftop party as COVID restrictions lifted. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Qualley had emerged from pandemic isolation ready for connection. She spotted Antonoff across the crowded roof. Their conversation ignited immediately and never stopped flowing. “We went on a series of walks throughout the city that summer,” she shared, painting a picture of romantic discovery through Manhattan streets.
Margaret Qualley having a crush on Adam Sandler and comparing him to her husband Jack Antonoff is soooo real:
— Cosmopolitan (@Cosmopolitan) August 4, 2025
“[Jack’s] been the person I’ve pictured my whole life. And I’m not even saying that metaphorically. My first crush was Adam Sandler in ‘Happy Gilmore’ and ‘Big Daddy,’… pic.twitter.com/7kOGciB8Uk
The actress credits Antonoff with creating unprecedented emotional safety in her life. He sees through any pretense she might attempt. This transparency forces her authentic self to emerge. “I can’t lie to Jack. I can’t be that for him – he’d see through it,” Qualley admitted. The relationship demands honesty in ways her previous connections never did. Their bond resembles her childhood crush on Adam Sandler’s characters, embodying that same essential energy she’d been seeking.
Marriage has transformed Qualley’s communication style completely. She abandoned her former “Southern girl etiquette” of playing hard to get. Now she texts freely and treats Antonoff like her “human diary.” The actress describes healthy love as having “always a ground below you” where falling becomes impossible because someone will always catch you. This security allows her to pursue film projects exploring various forms of love, creating work she’d proudly show future children. Her journey from lonely relationships to authentic partnership illustrates how the right person can reshape everything about how we experience love.
