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Can women really have it all? No, says Lily Allen.
“My children ruined my career. I love them and they complete me, but in terms of pop-stardom, they totally ruined it," she says.
While the “having it all” myth persists – the phrase, which was coined in the 1980s was the title of a self-help book for women that had little to do with kids and more to do with sex, money, appearance, diet and exercise - the 38-year-old English singer says she believes women do have to choose between their children and their careers – and she chose her kids.
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“I get really annoyed when people say you can have it all because, quite frankly, you can’t," she says.
“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 it left some nasty scars that I’m not willing to repeat on mine.”
The Hard Out Here singer has two daughters, Ethel Mary (12) and Marnie Rose (10), with her ex-husband Sam Cooper (46). The couple tied the knot in 2011, and divorced in 2018.
That same year she released her No Shame album, in which she laid bare her divorce.
Two years later, with the encouragement of her girls, she married Stranger Things star David Harbour (48) in an intimate ceremony.
In 2021, she turned to acting and appeared on stage in the West End's 2:22 A Ghost Story, for which she received an Olivier Awards nomination for best actress.
Last year she was in another play, The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh, which she says took quite a toll on her.
Lily, who relocated to London for the play, said she was "tired and lonely" without her daughters, who remained in New York with David.
“Hello Monday. 1 month to go of The Pillowman. Missing home, missing my bubbas who are both at summer camp, haven’t even spoken to them for 2 weeks! Tired and lonely but the Banya (steam bath) always manages to get my blood going and lift my spirits,” she said on Instagram.
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While she hasn’t officially abandoned her music career, she prefers to put her energy into raising her children rather than being a pop star.
“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 says.
SOURCES: DAILYMAIL.CO.UK, INSTAGRAM.COM, METRO.CO.UK, THESUN.CO.UK, PEOPLE.COM
