Lily Allen insists ‘you can’t have it all’ after choosing motherhood over pop-stardom: ‘I love my children but they ruined my career’

After several years spent as one of London’s most notorious party girls, she moved to the country and had children in 2011.

But now Lily Allen has admitted her two daughters have ‘totally ruined’ her pop career because she chose to prioritize them over work – and insists: ‘You can’t have it all’.

The singer-turned-actress, 38, said she believes women should decide whether to put their children or their careers first, and said she chose the former.

‘My children ruined my career. I love them and they complete me, but in terms of pop stardom, they totally ruined that,’ she shared Radio Times Podcast.

‘I get really annoyed when people say you can have it all because honestly you can’t.

‘Some people choose their careers over their children and that’s their prerogative, but my parents were quite absent when I was a child.

‘I feel like it left some nasty scars that I’m not willing to repeat on mine.’

Lily’s father is actor Keith Allen, 70, who walked out on his film producer mother Alison Owen, 63, when Lily was four years old.

Lily has now said that she ‘chose to step back and concentrate on my children’ and she’s glad because ‘they’re quite well-rounded’.

The Smile singer shares two daughters Ethel Mary, 12, and Marnie Rose, 10, with ex-husband builder Sam Cooper, 45, but released her last studio album No Shame in 2018.

Lily now lives in New York with her children and new husband, Stranger Things star David Harbour, 48, who she married in 2020 and has turned her hand to acting.

She said: ‘I was about two years sober, I had just moved to New York.

‘A big part of sobriety is surrendering and letting God – however you want to believe it – have a plan for you.

‘I got a call from a casting director who was doing a play (2:22 A Ghost Story) in the West End. I said, “No, I’m not an actress”.

‘But then I spoke to David – I’d been feeling a bit directionless and didn’t really know what I was doing with my life, apart from being a mum and setting up a new home in Brooklyn.

‘He said, “Maybe you should call them back”, and five weeks later I was rehearsing.’

For her performance in 2:22 A Ghost Story Lily received a 2022 Best Actress Olivier Award nomination.

She has since starred in Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman last year, for which she received mixed reviews.