Lily Allen Opens Up About Difficult Times and Battle With Alcoholism

“Smile” singer Lily Allen recently opened up about a particularly dark chapter in her life tied to her struggles with alcohol.

Lily Allen shared that growing up, she was often surrounded by drinking and drugs, which had a significant impact on her formative years.

In a recent interview with The Times UK, the 39-year-old singer discussed her path to sobriety, celebrating five years of being alcohol-free. She opened up about a low point where she had consumed excessive amounts of alcohol and confronted her ex-husband, Sam Cooper, who had moved on to a new relationship.

During the incident, Allen went to Cooper’s house, where she ended up yelling and causing distress to their daughters, Ethel Mary, 13, and Marnie Rose, 11. She admitted that her children witnessed her behavior while under the influence and emphasized the importance of avoiding such situations in the future.

Allen shared that the situation became even more humiliating when a friend questioned her decision to order a gin and tonic shortly afterward, deepening her sense of shame.

“I remember feeling so incensed,” she said. “When they were in the bathroom I was like, ‘Why do I feel so angry at somebody insinuating that I need this drink?’ And it was because I did. It really had control over me. I just felt like I was no longer in control of my own destiny. I went to a meeting the next morning.”

“I got married when I was 24 and I had a baby, I had a baby who died 10 years ago this month,” she shared at the time. “And then I went on to have two successful pregnancies, and then about six months after my youngest was born, we ran out of money, and I had to go back out on the road again. But I was 14 and did not feel like a pop star at all…”

“I felt so guilty about neglecting my kids in those early years of their lives and having to go off on tour and misbehaving in the way I was,” she added.

Now, with five years of sobriety behind her, Lily Allen has found a sense of peace both for herself and her family.

“My kids feel safe,” she shared with The Times UK. “That’s the main thing for me. I felt very unsafe in my childhood, and my kids feel safe.”

Earlier this year, during an appearance on the “Radio Times Podcast,” the singer-turned-actress discussed the challenges women face in balancing their careers and motherhood, stating that, for her, the choice was straightforward.

“My children ruined my career. I love them and they complete me, but in terms of pop stardom, they totally ruined it,” she confessed. “I get really annoyed when people say you can have it all because, quite frankly, you can’t.”

Lily Allen has been candid about how her upbringing shaped her struggles with addiction, revealing that she was often surrounded by drinking and drugs during her childhood.

“I think that addiction runs deep in my family, so self-medicating was going to be on the cards,” she explained. “For me, it didn’t really feel like an ‘if,’ it was a ‘when.’”

Lily Allen married actor David Harbour, who has been sober for over 20 years, in a low-key Las Vegas ceremony in September 2020. The intimate wedding featured an Elvis impersonator officiating the ceremony, with Allen’s two daughters, Ethel Mary and Marnie Rose, by their side.

“In a wedding officiated by the king himself, the people’s princess wed her devoted, low born, but kind credit card holder in a beautiful ceremony lit by the ashen skies courtesy of a burning state miles away in the midst of a global pandemic,” Harbour captioned his post at the time. “Refreshments were served at a small reception following.”

The couple first sparked romance rumors in 2019 before making their relationship official.