Lily Allen staying in New York?
Lily Allen has suggested she will continue living in New York, despite the breakdown of her marriage to David Harbour because she likes the anonymity she has there.
Lily Allen has suggested she will continue living in New York, despite the breakdown of her marriage to David Harbour.
The 40-year-old singer noted it was a "big commitment" when she relocated to the Big Apple with daughters Ethel, 13, and 12-year-old Marnie - who she has with first husband Sam Cooper - to be with the Stranger Things star, and though she doesn't know where they will go now she has split from the actor, she finds the support she receives in maintaining her sobriety is better in the US than the UK.
She told The Sunday Times Culture magazine: “I did a play in Bath this summer [Hedda] and didn’t go to a meeting for weeks. My recovery is in New York and my health is a huge priority, but it is hard work.
Lily goes to “lots of different types of therapy”, as well as Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
She added: “I keep myself in good shape."
And the LDN hitmaker appreciated the anonymity she has in the US compared to her native England.
She said: “When I walk into a room in this country, I feel I am fighting against a tabloid version of myself — I want to prove I am not that person they read about.
"I don’t feel judged in America the way I do here. It is residual trauma from being followed around by 50 guys with long-lens cameras when I was 21, and then the words that came with the photos the next day.”
Despite her sadness over the end of her marriage, Lily believes she will be "OK".
She said: “I’m financially OK. I have a roof over my head and food in the fridge and my kids are doing well and those markers are huge.”
Lily had put her music career on hold in recent years to focus on acting and podcasting, and her daughters were stunned to see her on stage for the first time at Glastonbury 2022 with Olivia Rodrigo.
She recalled: “It’s been years since I put out an album; they’ve never really seen me on stage.
"Marnie thought that I was going to be a backing singer; their minds were blown. People went ballistic… Marnie said, ‘So, were you popular then?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I was quite — back in my day.’ But we’d been living in a bubble in Brooklyn.”
