The Truth About Lana Del Rey And James Franco's Relationship

Lana Del Rey has had a remarkable career as a musician, becoming a world-wide sensation thanks to her dreamy, melancholic tunes that combine old-world Los Angeles with Brooklyn aesthetics. She comes out with album after album to critical acclaim and has created a pretty intense cult-following online. But this kind of celebrity doesn't come without some dark sides. In fact, back in 2018, a fan tried to kidnap Lana Del Rey.

Meanwhile, Lana Del Rey is no stranger to controversy and she often gets tangled into scraps on social media. A huge complaint against the musician is her glorification of violence, in part due to her 2014 album Ultraviolence.

While this side to her music certainly raises eyebrows, Lana Del Rey has been so vital to young audiences because of the ways she taps into her own vulnerability, especially in relationships, both failed and otherwise. She lets fans into her love struggles and the anguish that can accompany these relationships. So when audiences saw her hanging out with James Franco, people freaked out, thinking the connection might lead to the most romantic creative duo ever. But it seems like things didn't end up being as amorous as we hoped. So here's what really happened between Lana Del Rey and James Franco.

There is definitely grounds for curiosity about the connection between Lana Del Rey and James Franco. For a time, they were really close, to the point that Franco wrote a book about her called: Flip-Side: Real and Imaginary Conversations with Lana Del Rey. It has yet to be released but fans can pre-order it on Amazon.

To add fuel to the fire, in January 2015, Franco published an essay about Del Rey in V Magazine called "Shades of Cool." Franco wrote such touching things about her, including the statement: "When I watch her stuff, when I listen to her stuff, I am reminded of everything I love about Los Angeles."

Franco also defended Del Rey and her controversial or awkward personality in interviews by saying: "Lana lives in her art, and when she comes down to earth for interviews, it gets messy, because she isn't made for this earth. She is made to live in the world she creates. She is one who has been so disappointed by life, she had to create her own world. Just let her live in it."

He also said Del Rey knew about his idea to write a book about her, to which she said: "Just write around me, it's better if it's not my own words. It's almost better if you don't get me exactly, but try."

As everyone listened to James Franco gush about Lana Del Rey, people were dying to know if they were or had ever been a couple. The question finally got addressed on The Howard Stern Show in December 2014 when Franco answered the question if he and Del Rey had dated. He said: "No, she's a friend of mine... We're friends."

When asked if they had hooked up, he said: "No. On my life."

Franco explained their connection: "I'll tell you why, maybe it's a boring answer. There's a weird thing with creative types. Sometimes I love a person's work and, like, I'm just so enamored with that and their persona in their work."

Franco went on: "But outside of that, it's like, our dynamic is we're just kind of friends, we get along so well. But all this sexual attraction is for the person and the work." Franco concluded by saying: "I would have sex with her music."