Lily Allen gets candid about struggles with alcohol

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

Lily Allen also revealed that her upbringing exposed her to an environment often surrounded by drinking and drugs, shedding light on how these influences shaped her earlier years.

In an interview with The Times UK on Saturday, Nov. 30, the 39-year-old “Smile” singer reflected on her journey to sobriety, celebrating five years alcohol-free. Allen candidly shared details of her deepest moment, admitting she “drank herself into oblivion” before turning up at the home of her ex-husband, Sam Cooper, who had moved on with a new relationship.

“I went over to his house and started yelling at him, woke the kids up, you know, I really worried the kids,” said the “22” musician, who shares daughters Ethel Mary, 13, and Marnie Rose, 11, with Cooper, 45. “They remember it. And they know that I was under the influence then, and that it is important that mom avoids getting into those situations.”

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

“I remember feeling so upset,” she said. “When they were in the bathroom, I thought, ‘Why do I feel so angry at someone who insinuates that I need this drink?’ And it was because I did. It really had control over me. I just felt like I no longer was 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 child, I had a child who died 10 years ago this month,” she said 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 hit the road again. But I was 14 and didn’t feel like a pop star at all. ..”

“I felt so guilty for neglecting my children in the first years of their lives and having to go off on tour and misbehave like 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 children feel safe,” she shared The Times UK. “That’s the main thing for me. I felt very insecure in my childhood and my children 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 simple.

“My kids ruined my career. I love them and they complete me, but when it comes to pop stars, they totally ruined it,” she admitted. “I get really annoyed when people say you can have it all because, frankly, you can’t.”

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

“I think addiction runs deep in my family, so self-medication would be out of the question,” 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 ceremony in Las Vegas in September 2020. The intimate wedding featured an Elvis impersonator officiating, 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 married her devoted, low-born but kind credit card holder in a beautiful ceremony lit by the ashen sky courtesy of a burning state miles away in the midst of a global pandemic.” Harbor captioned his post at the time. “Refreshments were served at a small reception afterwards.”

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