Lily Allen has admitted that she “had children for all the wrong reasons”.
The singer had two daughters, 12-year-old Marnie and 11-year-old Ethel with her ex-husband Sam Cooper when she was in her mid-20s.
Speaking on her Miss Me? podcasts, which she hosts with Miquita Oliver, she said: “I think I had children for all the wrong reasons, really. Because I was yearning for unconditional love, which I haven’t felt in my life since I was a child.
“And also, my career was at such high speed, high pressure, and I felt like very overwhelmed by what was happening. I just didn’t get much respite you know? And I felt like the only way to stop people hassling me was to say, ‘It’s not about me, actually this is about this other person that’s inside me’.”
Allen added: “I don’t think I really understood what was happening, what I got myself into.”
The singer, who is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen, also talked about her own childhood.
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She went on: “My mum, bless her, had children really early as well, and she really struggled. But she doesn’t really talk about the struggle. And so… She inadvertently gaslit me into thinking it was, you know, easy. You just sort of throw the kid over your shoulder and you get on with it.
“Her job was very static, and in one place and went to an office and mine wasn’t like that at all. It wasn’t easy. It just wasn’t easy.”
Her latest comments come after Allen previously said that while she loves her children they did “ruin” her career.
Recalling how having children impacted the trajectory of her music and acting jobs, she said at the time: “I never really had a strategy when it comes to career, but yes, my children ruined my career.
“I love them and they complete me, but in terms of pop-stardom, they totally ruined it,” she added, also saying that being a parent and a pop star “does not mix”.
Elsewhere, Allen recently slammed animal rights organisation PETA for “perpetuating lies” in a row over rehoming her dog.