Lily Allen Says Having Children “Totally Ruined” Her Career

Lily Allen likes to keep things blunt. The singer revealed that becoming a mother hasn’t been the greatest for her musical ambitions.

Videos by American Songwriter

“My children ruined my career,” Allen said on the Radio Times Podcast. While some may take Allen as being resentful, the singer admittedly is just being honest. She says she loves her children, but she made sacrifices to be a mother.

“I love them and they complete me, but in terms of pop stardom, totally ruined it,” she added.
“It really annoys me when people say you can have it all because, quite frankly, you can’t.”

Allen shares two daughters Ethel Mary, 12, and Marnie Rose, 11, with her ex Sam Cooper. In 2020, Allen married David Harbour, better known as Hopper on Stranger Things.

“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, you know, repeat on mine,” Allen explained. The singer voluntarily chose to step back because she didn’t want the same experience for her children.

“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,” she continued. “Fingers f—— crossed.”

Lily Allen on Parenthood

It’s not the first time that Allen has been brutally honest about parenthood. In a previous interview, she revealed that it was kind of boring.

“I thought I’d be a really happy mum just sitting at home, playing with my kids. That was my dream,” Lily told France’s NRJ Radio, according to the Mail Online. “I love my children but I’m a very impatient, busy person naturally so two babies – neither of them can talk – it was quite boring staying at home all day talking to people who can’t talk back.

“I didn’t realize how much of a creative person I am and that I need somewhere to put my creativity,” she said. “When I write music now, I’m conscious that I have two children and they’re going to hear it,” she says. “I can’t be too sexy or gross or rude because that would be embarrassing for them. It’s a different kind of me, but there are still the same elements.”

Fortunately for Allen, she’s returning to the industry. Allen is launching a new podcast called Miss Me?.

[Photo by Anthony Harvey/Getty Images]

Leave a Reply

5 Songs You Didn’t Know Barbra Streisand Wrote