It was 2006 when a practically teenager Lily Allen was sweeping the music charts with her first single, Smile. At just 21 years old, the daughter of British actor Keith Allen became the favorite of British pop, reaching number one on the charts in the United Kingdom and kicking off an unstoppable career.
At only 23 years old, she was nominated for a Grammy with her album Alright, Still, which established her in the United States. It was then that she decided to marry a builder, Sam Cooper, after two years of dating. From her marriage to Cooper, eight years her senior, her two daughters were born - Ethel Mary (12) and Marnie Rose (11).
Precisely about being a mother at such a young age and leaving her career to take care of her daughters, the actress is sincere in her latest interview with the Radio Times podcast, stating that being a mother "ruined" her options to become a star.
"My daughters ruined my career," the now theater actress told the presenter, Kelly-Anne Taylor. "I love them and they complete me, but in terms of becoming a pop star, they totally ruined it for me."
DJ Miquita Oliver, a personal friend of Allen and with whom she came to present her new project, Miss Me?, their new joint podcast, was grateful with a laugh that the singer was so direct with her statements on the subject, since many women see themselves alibis when expressing their feelings when talking about combining work and motherhood.
"They don't fit together," lamented the singer and actress, who insisted that it "bothers her a lot" when people claim that a woman can achieve everything in this life. "Frankly, you can't."
Precisely one of her hardest moments was when her eldest daughter, Ethel, was diagnosed at just two years old with a potentially fatal disease, laryngomalacia - a disorder that makes feeding and breathing difficult for the baby and which caused Ethel to be fed through of a catheter the first months of his life.
The singer chose to stay by her daughters' side, leaving her musical career when it was at its peak. When she returned, almost six years later, things were no longer the same.
"Some people choose their careers over their children's, and that's their prerogative, but my parents were pretty absent when I was growing up, and I feel like that really left some ugly scars that I'm not willing to repeat on mine," she sentenced, talking about how her parents, actor Keith Allen and producer Alison Owen, raised their children - the singer has a brother, actor Alfie Allen (Game of Thrones, John Wick) and a half-sister, Teddie Allen.
"I chose to take a step back and focus on them. I'm glad I did, because I think they are pretty well-rounded people," the actress concluded.
Since 2020, the theater actress has been married to David Harbour, star of Stranger Things. Together with him she is raising her daughters, sharing custody with her ex-husband, who in 2021 also rebuilt her life with designer India Windsor-Clive.
