As a paragon of late 2000s hedonism, Lily Allen is known for her heartbreaking indiscretions, particularly when it comes to her sex life and her former addictions to drugs and alcohol. And the pop star turned actor is now hinting that there are problems in his family life.
“I’m going through a bit of a tough time right now,” she recently admitted on Miss Me? podcast that she hosts with her best friend, presenter Miquita Oliver. “But I’m trying to move on.”
In a previous episode, she told how her two daughters, Ethel, 13, and Marnie, 11, found themselves in the line of fire.
‘I exploded and screamed at the children. I thought, ‘I can’t handle this right now; I’m going through so much that I need you two to behave.’
He then explained to them: “We are all going through difficult times right now, so I apologize and I am sorry.”
For some, a possible clue as to the cause of their confusion came when Lily, who is married to Stranger Things star David Harbour, announced: “I’m so bored of men.”
In another segment she described Aaron Batterham, her mother Alison’s boyfriend, as a “pillar of support” and “the main male person in my life who is great and supportive.” So David is not mentioned.
Friends of the 39-year-old singer are concerned about her well-being. They say she’s “struggling,” and one adds: “I hope everything is okay between her and David.”
Lily Allen and her husband David Harbor at the Met Gala in 2022
The couple have been here before, when rumors of a split emerged last year, not helped by Lily’s revelation that she sometimes goes days without texting David. But the couple did a good job of dispelling the rumors by appearing front row at a basketball game in November last year, smiling and snuggling with each other.
The source explains: ‘It was widely reported that Lily and David had been taking some time apart, but they made an effort to put those rumors to rest. And we enjoyed a good year together.’
But since filming on the new Netflix series Stranger Things began in the summer, David, 49, has spent much of his time in Atlanta, Georgia, about 800 miles from his family home in New York.
On Thursday’s podcast episode, Lily said she plans to spend Christmas in Africa with Miquita, who regularly visits the posh Kenyan resort island of Lamu. But she didn’t mention David joining her.
Theirs was a dizzying courtship. They met on celebrity dating app Raya in 2019, sheltered together during the pandemic lockdown at Lily’s apartment in northwest London, and married at Graceland Chapel in Las Vegas in 2020. The low-key ceremony was led by a Elvis impersonator. and the wedding breakfast was at a hamburger restaurant.
At the time, David shared snaps on Instagram and jokingly commented: “In a ceremony officiated by the king himself, the people’s princess was joined by her devoted, humble but generous credit card holder.”
Lily’s two daughters, both from her first marriage to builder Sam Cooper, were her only witnesses.
Lily on her podcast earlier this month without her wedding ring
Lily supports an event for Addictions Awareness Week earlier this month
She and David settled with the girls in a stunning brownstone in Brooklyn, and she has since spoken fondly of how much she has enjoyed life away from the tabloid attention that her wild life as a TV star brought her. pop.
She was no longer paparazzi fodder, photographed being carried by her bouncers out of festivals, awards ceremonies and the Notting Hill Carnival, once, notoriously after taking ketamine, a horse tranquiliser. In New York, as a so-called stay-at-home “mom,” she took up cooking and became known for her Sunday roasts.
She prides herself on never missing a school run and commented that few parents at the school gates knew who she was, although they always recognized David.
The couple has certainly supported each other in their journeys out of addiction. “Sobriety is the cornerstone of their relationship,” says a source. Lily struggled with alcohol and even revealed that David was the first person she had sex with while sober. He, meanwhile, is bipolar and has admitted to having dark moods and suicidal thoughts. In his drunken state, he says, he was a “terrible human being.” He became sober at age 24.
But Lily has recently been photographed without her wedding ring. Video clips from her podcast show Lily’s left hand without the large diamond David gave her four years ago.
He didn’t have it either when he attended an addiction awareness event in London earlier this month. Recently she has been regularly seen on this side of the Atlantic, particularly in her old stomping grounds of Notting Hill, where she is said to have bought and decorated a new flat.
“She’s building a new life, her old life,” says a friend. ‘But their children need to be in New York to go to school. She finds herself at a crossroads.’
Allen admits their relationship is unconventional, thanks to her husband’s filming schedule for the series, which reportedly nets him £7.5million per episode. The couple sometimes goes weeks without seeing each other and days without speaking.
Before filming resumed, David purchased a property in Atlanta, and Lily took pains to explain on her podcast that it’s not “his” but “theirs,” since they share their property portfolio.
Lily often talked about David on the podcast until recently. In July she said: ‘Actually, things are going well between me and my husband. We’re quite open and flirtatious.’
She said she flirted with her husband more through text messages, since “David is away filming quite a bit…I feel like absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
David has said that he fell in love with Lily on their third date, but admits that he has a problem: that she needs him to be around, sometimes more than she would like.
Speaking on his podcast, he said Lily sometimes wants him with her, but he doesn’t want to talk or interact. She just wants me to be there as a presence.
Last month, Lily revealed in an interview that after a difficult childhood (she has a troubled relationship with her father, actor and firebrand Keith Allen) she has to feel safe at home.
‘My children feel safe. That’s the main thing for me,” and adds: “I felt very insecure in my childhood.”
It’s directness like this that makes Lily such a compelling figure. But will he open up about the cause of his current problems?