Lily Allen loves her kids but says they ruined her career

Lily Allen is speaking candidly about motherhood and work, conceding that no, actually, women can’t really have it all.

The English singer-songwriter appeared on Tuesday’s episode of Radio Times Podcast, where she said that while she loves her two children, they “ruined my career.” “I love them and they complete me, but in terms of pop stardom, totally ruined it,” Allen quipped with a laugh.

“It really annoys me when people say you can have it all because, quite frankly, you can’t,” the “Smile” singer 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, and I feel like that really left some nasty scars that I’m not willing to repeat on mine.”

“So I chose stepping back and concentrating on them and I’m glad that I have done that because I think they’re pretty well-rounded people,” Allen continued. “Fingers f—ing crossed.”

Allen first burst into the pop scene in 2006 with her debut single “Smile,” from her album Alright, Still, which was nominated for a Grammy and several awards at the BRIT Awards. (She was awarded British Female Solo Artist.) It was followed by three more albums: 2008’s It’s Not Me, It’s You, 2014’s Sheezus, and 2018’s No Shame.

The singer-songwriter welcomed her first daughter, Ethel Mary, in 2011, followed by second daughter Marnie Rose, in 2013, with ex-husband Sam Cooper.

Allen wed Stranger Things favorite David Harbour in Las Vegas in 2020, in an intimate pandemic wedding that featured an Elvis Presley impersonator and In-N-Out burgers. Her young daughters were also in attendance.

During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2021, Harbour said it was Allen’s daughters who emboldened him to marry during the pandemic. “We got engaged right before the pandemic. Then the pandemic hit and nothing was happening,” Harbour said. “We were riding bikes out in the country trying to figure out what we were gonna do for the next year . . . and the little one was riding along and she was going like, ‘David, dad, David, dad.’ Because the D got her confused,” Harbour recalled.

“And the older one got very upset with that, which I understand,” he said. “She was like, ‘He’s not our dad! He’s not our dad!’ “And then younger one was like, ‘Well what is he? He’s kind of our dad.’ She’s like, ‘No he’s not, he’s our stepdad.’ And she goes, ‘What is he?’ And she goes, ‘He’s just some guy in our lives!’ I was like, ‘I need to marry this woman.’ Because the emotional fallout…”

Listen to Allen’s podcast interview in full below.

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Related content:

• David Harbour and Lily Allen married in Las Vegas
• How Lily Allen ‘f—ed up,’ cut deep, and bared her soul on No Shame, her best album yet
• A chat with Lily Allen makes us ”Smile”
  
  

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