Who Is Cyndi Lauper's Husband? All About David Thornton

Cyndi Lauper and her husband David Thornton have a decades-long romance. 

The couple first met on a movie set in the early ‘90s and it didn’t take long for their relationship to blossom. After wrapping their film, the two went official with their romance and ended up tying the knot shortly after on Nov. 24, 1991. Years later, they became parents as they welcomed their son on Nov. 19, 1997. 

Over the years, Lauper and Thornton have given numerous glimpses of their love story as they support each other's careers. 

In addition to sharing the screen together, the couple has stepped out at various public events, including the fifth anniversary of Kinky Boots, which Lauper wrote the music and lyrics for, and the singer’s Hollywood Walk Of Fame ceremony in 2016. 

“My husband became the strong arm of the family,” Lauper told Vanity Fair ahead of the premiere of her documentary Let the Canary Sing at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival. “He was very much there. He’s so wildly talented; he understands stories so well.” 

Here’s everything to know about Lauper’s husband, from his career to the details of his romance with the singer. 

He’s an actor 

Like Lauper, Thornton is no stranger to the entertainment industry. With his first acting role dating back to 1983, Thornton has a number of credits to his name, including Home Alone 3, Law & Order, The Notebook, and The Other Woman. 

He and Cyndi first met on set  

Thornton and Lauper first met on the set of their 1991 film Off and Running. Having recently split from her then-manager and boyfriend Dave Wolff, Lauper told The Independent that the movie was like “a vacation from myself, a way to get lost in work and forget who I was.” 

“Then I met David and everything changed,” she added. 

Thornton noted that he and Lauper “didn't communicate much on set at first” but eventually developed a connection when “Cyndi asked if I wanted to join her and her assistant for dinner.” He continued, “There wasn't an immediate buzz, but we laughed a lot. And the great thing is that she's not a bit starry, so the first thing that happened was a real friendship began to develop.” 

From there, their relationship only continued to grow. “She began inviting me to join her for dinner regularly, and after a couple of weeks it dawned on me that I really liked her an awful lot,” Thornton told the publication. 

He proposed to Cyndi with multiple different rings 

Speaking with The Independent, Thornton revealed that he popped the question in Los Angeles with multiple different rings for Lauper to choose from. 

“One was an 1840s crystal which had belonged to a Hindu princess,” he said the selection of rings. “Cyndi believes in reincarnation and the past, so I thought that might be right. There was an antique Roman ring with the stamp of Eros and finally an English 'regard' ring with a curve of different gems across the finger. That was the one she chose.”

He added, “She made me go on one knee before she would accept me.”

He and Cyndi got married shortly after getting together 

While the beginning of their relationship was more of a slow burn, it didn’t take long for them to realize they wanted to marry each other. “When the film was finished, we spent a month alone together at Cape Cod,” Lauper explained to The Independent. “We could stand each other, so we decided to go ahead and marry.” 

The couple officially tied the knot on Nov. 24, 1991 at a Friends meeting house in New York. “Neither of us is a Quaker, but we liked the idea of friendship and tolerance being the theme, as our friends come from all walks of life and all kinds of political and sexual persuasions,” Thornton told The Independent.

The wedding was officiated by Little Richard and included both of their families. For the special day, Lauper wore “an on-the-knee white satin number” that featured “embroidery down the front” along with a “pillbox hat with a veil and satin shoes.” 

He comes from a very “academic” family 

Following their nuptials, Lauper joked that she “wondered what David's parents must make of having me as a daughter-in-law,” noting that Thornton’s father, Robert Donald Thornton, was “one for serious knowledge” having previously taught English at Harvard.

Thornton recalled that he wondered how his parents “would take to Cyndi” during their wedding. “They themselves met in the Unitary Choir and are both very conventional,” he said. “My father is an academic, writes books about Robert Burns. He wanted me to grow up as a proper gentleman and wanted all his children in professions like law and medicine.”

“But my father had sung with Benny Goodman, and he and my mother both love a good voice - so that won them over,” he added. “And I think deep down they were bowled over at the idea of a star in the family.” 

He and Cyndi are proud parents of a son 

On Nov. 19, 1997, just ahead of their sixth wedding anniversary, Lauper and Thornton welcomed their first and only child together, a son named Declyn Wallace Thornton Lauper. In addition to stepping out with his parents at various through the years, Lauper has also spoken about her son fondly in various interviews. 

"I work a lot because I want to give him everything I never could have," she told ABC News about balancing her work and family life. "I didn't grow up with a silver spoon."

She has also praised Thornton for being such a great father while she was on the road. “My son went to good schools, but I missed out on a few things when I was on the road,” she told Vanity Fair. “People said I was so career-driven, but once the kid came, I looked at how I can support everything: make a record, tour—and my husband would say, ‘Go to Europe, I’ve got him.’ I took my son on tour sometimes, but he needed his own space.” 

Declyn has even taken after his mother in the musical department. “It’s more underground,” Lauper said of her son’s music. “He’s on SoundCloud and he’s a terrific artist.” 

He and Cyndi have shared the screen a few times since Off and Running

After meeting on the set of Off and Running in 1991, the two have joined forces a few times over the years. In addition to making a guest appearance in Nickelodeon’s The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie starring Nat Wolff and Alex Wolff in 2005, the two shared the screen in 2009’s Here and There, which Lauper also wrote and recorded a song for. 

“I thought it would be a great thing to be a part of and I got to be in two scenes with him,” Lauper told Reuters about appearing with her husband in the movie. “He’s a fantastic actor.”

The couple later walked the red carpet together as they attended the film’s premiere at Tribeca Film Festival in April 2009.