Singer-songwriter King Princess earned a devoted fan following for baring her soul about her love life in songs such as “Talia” and “Ain’t Together.”
In fact, the GLAAD Media Award-nominated musician burst onto the music scene with her debut pop single, “1950,” an ode to queer love that was heavily inspired by Patricia Highsmith’s depiction of a lesbian couple’s “icy” relationship in the groundbreaking novel The Price of Salt.
“What I loved about [The Price of Salt] was that it took place in the ‘50s and the way that queer people were allowed to be public was so censored that it was all about body language and this icy interaction because you had to hide yourself,” she explained in a 2018 interview. “I was so interested in the metaphor of ‘1950’ being how queer love looks in public, and how it’s similar to having a really cold relationship, really distant.”
As her star rose in the music world, King Princess (real name Mikaela Mullaney Straus) had high-profile romances with The Hunger Games actress Amandla Stenberg and Lizzo’s creative director Quinn Whitney Wilson. In August 2025, she held hands with Nine Perfect Strangers costar Christine Baranski on a Broadway red carpet, though a rep for the actress later told Page Six they “are strictly friends and nothing more.”
Keep scrolling for a look at King Princess’ dating history:
King Princess Opened Up About Gender Identity
King Princess came out as nonbinary in 2023. Speaking to Rolling Stone, the singer recalled recognizing that she was “gay” from a young age, though she resisted defining her sexuality and gender.
“I knew I was gay, but I think before I knew I was gay … I didn’t fit into the body I was assigned.” She said, before joking: “And as far as pronouns, I’ve never felt offended [by] the pronoun situation in my life. He. She. It. They. Xenu.”
King Princess and Christine Baranski in August 2025. Bruce Glikas/WireImage
Like many singer-songwriters, King Princess’s relationships are often fodder for her music. King Princess told AfterEllen in 2018 that her second single, “Talia” — which included aching remembrances of an ex-girlfriend who “walked out a hundred times” — was inspired by a “savage breakup” with her first love.
“I think first love is hard to talk about for all of us because [it’s] your young and you can’t differentiate between just being a crazy, young, hormonal person with what’s actually going on,” she explained. “It’s about savage heartbreak and recovering from it. But that’s what all my songs are about.”
Amandla Stenberg
The Bodies Bodies Bodies actress identified as gay publicly for the first time during a moving 2018 interview with King Princess for Wonderland Magazine. Stenberg had previously identified as both bisexual and queer.
“What I didn’t tell [Amandla] was that I distinctly remember walking out of my junior year English class reading: ‘Amandla Stenberg comes out as a queer,’” King Princess wrote. “She unknowingly set a precedent in my life, a gold standard of how to be proud and exist in the intersectionality of multiple identities that were once thought of as being conflicting. Now I know her. I know the nuances of her personality and the uncontrollable passion that she carries in her being.”
The couple were all smiles when they attended the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards together in August 2018, though they eventually split before the end of that year.
King Princess and Amandla Stenberg in June 2018. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for MTV
King Princess hinted to London’s The Times in 2019 that she wrote the breakup track “Prophet” about separating from Stenberg.
“‘Prophet’ is about being in love with someone who is a commodity, who is commodifying themselves, while simultaneously doing it to yourself as well,” she said. “It is about watching someone monetize their value and struggle with the way the industry is treating them. It is pretty dark.”
Quinn Whitney Wilson
King Princess confirmed in a 2021 GQ profile that she reached out to Wilson via an Instagram DM to reveal she was a fan of the rapper. The future couple met in person in Los Angeles a few days later and soon were inseparable.
As the couple reflected on the early days of their relationship, King Princess remembered being particularly drawn to Wilson’s nonconformist aesthetic.
“[Quinn’s] style is the reason I fell in love with her,” King Princess said. “My style is much better now, and everyone in my life has noticed it.”
The two started working together professionally, with King Princess describing their romantic and work dynamic as “symbiotic.”
“It’s a true partnership,” she added.
Quinn Wilson and King Princess in December 2021. Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Ralph Lauren
In the same profile, Wilson acknowledged that, although their relationship was frequently tumultuous, they loved one another deeply.
“We fight all the time,” Wilson admitted. “There have been some big highs and lows in our relationship, and we’re still functioning at the same baseline of love and respect for each other.”
She added, “I feel like we have an emotion, we’re really intense and get it out, and then it dissolves … I love Mikaela so much it’s painful. She’s my best friend.”
The couple reportedly split in December 2023 after four years together.
