Lily Allen has spoken about the impact starting a family had on her career as a musician. In an interview with the Radio Times Podcast, the chart-topping British singer and actor spoke candidly about the difficulties of maintaining a career while raising children. Allen revealed that she prioritised raising her two daughters over trying to chase fame in her career. She spoke about how having children impacted the trajectory of her music and acting jobs, saying, “I never really had a strategy when it comes to a career, but yes, my children ruined my career.”
Allen also said that while she loves her children, they did “ruin” her career, adding that being a parent and a pop star “does not mix”. The ‘Smile’ singer explained that it really annoys her when people say you can have it all because quite frankly, you can’t. She also shared how her parent’s style of looking after her impacted the way she wants to raise her own children. She said, “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.”
Allen had her two daughters with her ex-husband Sam Cooper and is now married to Stranger Things star David Harbour. Her last studio album, ‘No Shame’, was released in 2018, which detailed the breakdown of her first marriage and struggle with substance abuse. Since then, she has turned her sights to acting and made her theatre debut in the 2021 play 2:22 A Ghost Story, followed by last year’s The Pillowman. On-screen, she has appeared as Elizabeth Taylor in the 2019 film How To Build A Girl and as Mel in the 2023 comedy series Dreamland.
Last month, Allen revealed that she is underway with work on a new album, and told fans that they can expect to hear the new material “soon”. The update came just weeks after the singer teased fans by stating she had already written around 50 songs for a new project. This teaser comes after she revealed that she had returned to the studio following her special guest performance at Olivia Rodrigo’s Glastonbury 2022 set, where she and Rodrigo duetted ‘Fuck You’. After the performance, she hinted that she might not be retiring from music just yet
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