Lily Allen: ‘I love my children but they totally ruined my career’
Lily Allen has spoken candidly about raising her children while working in the music industry (Picture: Getty)
Lily Allen has warned that ‘you can’t have it all’ as she claimed that having her two daughters ‘totally ruined’ her pop career.
The chart-topper, 38, was candid as she discussed prioritising raising her girls, Ethel Mary, 11, and nine-year-old Marnie Rose – who she shares with ex-husband Sam Cooper, 45 – over chasing music stardom at any cost.
She had a string of hits in the 2000s and 2010s, including debut single Smile – which reached number one – Oh My God, Not Fair and her cover of Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know.
Discussing how having children affected her career choices, Allen revealed: ‘I never really had a strategy when it comes to career, but yes, my children ruined my career.’
‘I love them and they complete me, but in terms of pop-stardom, they totally ruined it,’ she added, telling the Radio Times Podcast that parenting and a pop career ‘does not mix’.
‘It really annoys me when people say you can have it all because, quite frankly, you can’t,’ the mum continued.
The singer with husband David Harbour and her daughters Marnie and Ethel, who she shares with her ex (Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
Popstar-turned-actress Lily Allen doesn’t think you can have it all (Picture: Reuters)
Lily had a string of hits in the 2000s, including her debut number one Smile (Picture: Hayley Madden/Shutterstock)
‘Some people choose their career over their children and that’s their prerogative, but my parents were quite absent when I was a kid.
‘I feel like that really left some nasty scars that I’m not willing to repeat on mine. I chose stepping back and concentrating on them and I’m glad that I’ve done that because I think they’re pretty well rounded people.’
The Fear hitmaker, who is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen, remembered being left outside when her parents would go out for a meal.
However, she hasn’t released music since 2018 (Picture: IBL/REX/Shutterstock)
The mum of two said she was keen to not ‘repeat nasty scars’ from her childhood onto her kids (Picture: BrosNYC/Backgrid)
Lily with her dad, actor Keith Allen, at the 2007 Brit Awards (Photo by Jon Furniss/WireImage)
She said: ‘Our parents used to hang out in this one particular restaurant called 192.
‘There wasn’t enough space for the kids, so we would be left outside, going round Portobello Market. We’d shoplift things.’
The star stopped making music after the release of her 2018 album No Shame, which detailed her marriage breakdown and substance abuse issues.
She has since found a new creative outlet in acting and made her West End debut in 2:22 A Ghost Story.
In September 2020, she tied the knot with Stranger Things actor David Harbour, 48, in Las Vegas.
She remembered being left to entertain herself when her parents would go out for dinner (Picture: Mike Marsland/WireImage)
The singer has now pivoted to acting, nabbing an Olivier Award nomination for her debut stage role in 2022 (Picture: Instagram/@lilyallen)
Recalling how she switched career paths, Allen explained that she was two years sober and had just moved to New York.
‘A big part of sobriety is surrendering and letting God – in whatever way you want to believe in that – have a plan for you.
‘I got a call from a casting director who was putting on a play in the West End. I said “No, I’m not an actress”.
‘But then I was talking to David – I’d been feeling a bit directionless and didn’t really know what I was doing with my life, except for being a mum and setting up a new home in Brooklyn – and he said “Maybe you should call them back”.’
It was husband David who persuaded her to pursue acting (Picture: Reuters)
Five weeks later, Allen said, she was in rehearsals for the play.
She received a prestigious Olivier Award nomination for best actress for her performance in 2022.
Since then she has starred in a stage production of The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh.
She has also appeared on television in Dreamland, about four sisters living on the Kent coast.
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