How Lily Allen is clawing her way back into the limelight (2024)

She was once London's most outspoken party girl, striding around the streets of Notting Hill wearing prom dresses, hoop earrings, and Nike Air Max 90s.

But Lily Allen, 39, no longer seems to be the rebel she once was, having moved across the pond where she lives with her husband, Stranger Things actor David Harbour, and their two children in a Brooklyn townhouse.

She's ditched music for acting, gone tee-total, and has this year launched a BBC podcast - called Miss Me? - to relive her past fame with childhood best friend and fellow 'nepo-baby', Miquita Oliver.

While the pals discuss cultural trends, the podcast also evokes an overwhelming sense of nostalgia for its millennial listeners as Lily and Miquita recall memories of their previously rebellious selves that are no longer.

And as Lily opens up on the podcast, she reminisces on past fame, rehashes old drama and harks back to the good old days with salacious tales from her time in the spotlight - and with the nostalgic gossip comes a new-found notoriety.

The singer-turned-actress was born and raised in London, later attending Bedales in Hampshire, a private boarding school that charges £46,185 per year today.

Daughter of successful actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen, Lily cemented herself as a popstar by 2005, with the public invited into the highlights and lowlights of her teenage years.

Her career reached impressive heights, releasing songs synonymous with the 2000s that still do the rounds in the UK clubbing scene today.

But the good times came with the bad, with her struggling with alcoholism and self-confidence issues, and in 2009, she announced a career break from music.

After a long UK hiatus, Lily returned to the British arts scene with a bang, starring in 2:22 A Ghost Story on the West End in 2021 - and since then, she's rarely out of the headlines.

Today, as she and Miquita record their transatlantic podcast, Lily is turning heads for confessions such as the time she pursued her best friend's love interest as he was a pop star and 'fair game' - plus her latest venture of selling snaps of her feet.

Here, FEMAIL explores the singer's past dramas revived by her BBC podcast...

Says children ruined her career

After years spent as one of London's most notorious party girls, Lily moved to the countryside and had children in 2011.

But this year,Lily Allenadmitted her two daughters have 'totally ruined' her pop career because she chose to prioritise them instead of work - insisting: 'You can't have it all'.

The singer-turned-actress said she believes women have to decide whether to put their children or their career first - and revealed 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 it,' she told the Radio Times Podcast.

'I get really annoyed when people say you can have it all because, quite frankly, you can't.

'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.'

Despite Lily's comments, she released two albums after the year her first child was born, Sheezus in 2014 and No Shame in 2018.

Lily's father is actor Keith Allen, 70, who walked out on her 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 that she hasbecause 'they're pretty well-rounded.'

The Smile singer shares two daughters Ethel Mary, 12, and Marnie Rose, 10, with her ex-husband builder Sam Cooper, 46, but released her last studio album No Shame in 2018.

She said: 'I was about two years sober, I'd just moved to New York. A big part of sobriety is surrendering and letting God – in whatever way you want to believe in that – have a plan for you.

'I got a call from a casting director who was putting on a play [2:22 A Ghost Story] in the West End. I said: 'No, I'm not an actress'.

'But then I was talking to David – I'd been feeling a bit directionless and didn't really know what I was doing with my life, except for 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 in rehearsal.'

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

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

Tell-all podcast

In February, Lily made a return to the entertainment world, hosting a podcast with her childhood best friend and former Popworld co-host, Miquita Oliver, 40.

The podcast, called Miss Me?,recounts the highs and lows of their youth and they don't hold back on sharing past secrets from a different chapter of their life.

It's not just old memories that the pair chat about, but also cultural trends and showbusiness news.

Last month, they spoke about a rough patch in their relationship when Lily pursued Miquita's love interest.

Taking listeners back to the early noughties when she was hosting Popworld, Channel 4's Sunday morning music show, Miquita said on the podcast: 'There was a pop star.

'I found out that he fancied me. I told Lily that I liked him. Cue, Lily gets herself to a festival in Japan and seduces him.'

Lily was yet to break through as an artist; so instead got a job in artist relations to get backstage for the gig.

The conversation on their podcast got tense as Lily questioned whether Miquita had ever made her feelings clear for the man.

Lily admitted she flew to Japan to 'lock that one in', adding: 'I fancied him, so I was getting mine. By the way, I think pop stars are fair game, like, I don't care.'

The pair laughed as they recalled the incident, however Miquita revealed that she didn't speak to Lily for six months after it happened.

Miquita said: 'If I didn't hate you so much for it, I would have applauded you. It was admirable.'

And this wasn't the only instance of friendship difficulties in the celebrity duo's past, as on another episode, things got heated as revelations surfaced.

Miquita admitted to Lily that she had kissed her ex-partner Toby, who the popstar dated for a year. Quizzed on whether it happened when Lily was actually going out with him, the Popworld presenter confirmed it was.

'Oh My God, no I did not [know],' Lily replied in shock. After an awkward silence, Miquita said: 'Wow, I'm really sorry. In Danny and Judy's sitting room. You were upstairs.'

Lily said she 'would be really angry' with her best friend, but admitted to her own wrongdoing.

Pressed by Miquita, Lily said she had "f***ed loads" of her boyfriends, but not while they were together.

'Did you sleep with Jasper?' Miquita asked, before Lily admitted that she did but 10 years after they had split up.

'You did didn't you?! I can't believe...,' Miquita shouted, before Lily cut her off to add: 'You just admitted to me that you kissed my boyfriend while I was in the same house.'

Miquita insisted the situations were different, as she said: 'But Toby was a fling, Jasper was a love.'

'No he wasn't I was with him for a year, what are you talking about?' Lily said. Surprised by this, Miquita asked: 'Were you? I'm sorry.'

'Yeah,' Lily said, looking angry, before adding: 'F*** you.'

The pair then clashed about who's confession was worse, leading Lily to call her Miquita 'a b**ch' before accusing her of gaslighting her.

Lily added: 'Now I'm feeling real sorrow for my younger self like knowing that that happened.'

Miquita asked Lily why she thought it was OK to have sex with her 'first love' even after they had ended.

But the singer was having none of it, and said there was 'no comparison' between the incidents.

Their arguments appear to have been in jest though and aren't deep for the pair, which Miquita clarified afterwards.

Selling feet pictures on OnlyFans

Last month, Lily indicated that her wild child streak might still live on inside her, as she launched an OnlyFans account selling pictures of her feet for £8 per month.

She set up her own account on the social media platform, primarily used for people selling adult content, under the title 'Lily Allen FTSE500'.

The week before, Lily joked that she had been told she could 'make a lot of money selling foot content' after discovering her feet had been 'rated quite highly on the internet.'

And it seemed as though she followed through with the idea and posted six exclusive pictures of her feet for her subscribers to access.

One of the pictures was captioned 'sole trader,' and underneath another, she wrote: 'Just bought these at the airport. Will take them off later.'

Another photo was captioned, 'summer pedicure,' while another simply said: 'Morning.'

While it's not known how many subscribers she has, the account received over 200 'likes' in its first week.

'I have a lady who comes and does my nails and they informed me that I have five stars on WikiFeet, which is quite rare,' Lily said on her Miss Me? podcast. She added: 'But yes, my feet are rated quite highly on the internet.'

Lily explained that WikiFeet is 'a Wikipedia for famous people's feet' and that her nail technician thought she 'could make a lot of money from selling foot content on OnlyFans.' She added: 'I'm like, "not no."

Sharing the news that she had officially launched her Only Fans over on her Instagram Story, Lily posted the link to her page alongside a snap of her painted toes.

She wrote: 'She's done it' alongside a laughing emoji, before joking: 'What is this going to do to my algorithm?'

Referencing her chat with Miquita on the podcast she added: 'If you don't listen to #missme podcast on @bbcsounds... this whole post is going to look very strange indeed'.

She later defended her decisionto sell photos of her feet online, saying it is 'empowering' after years of being 'sexualized' by people from a 'very young age.'

She said the account, which costs just £8 per month to subscribe to, is for a 'select group of enthusiasts' who ask her for bespoke photos of her 'spreading' her toes.

'I'm finding this actually quite empowering,' she said on the latest episode of her Miss Me? Podcast.

'Having been very sexualized from a very early age, and literally everybody else in the process profiting from that sexualization, it's actually really fun to be like, in power and in control of something that I find so silly.'

While OnlyFans is primarily used by people selling adult and X-rated content to subscribers, Lily said she doesn't see what she's doing as being 'sexual.'

She said: 'I don't feel like it is sexual - how it is received is another thing altogether.'

While she doesn't find feet 'kinky' herself, she said there is something 'slightly kinky' in the 'power element' of the transactions.

Rehashing old drama

The mother-of-two revived an old drama after sherevealed that a 'successful and incredibly beautiful' A-lister once accused her of trying to seduce her boyfriend, leaving her shaken and plotting her revenge.

The singer explained that the incident had taken place when she was 24, and that she had been alone at Elton John's house in France with the couple.

Speaking on her Miss Me? podcast, Lily recalled that in 2009, she had been sent to Elton's house in an attempt to curb her excessive drinking, when the female A-lister had asked for a favour to help raise money for charity.

She detailed: 'This was when I was managed by Elton John's company and I'd been sent to his house in the south of France to, like, dry out for a couple of weeks.

'And while I was there I got a phone call from somebody very famous at the time asking me if I could perform at a charity event that they were involved in - she was asking me to sing a song with her boyfriend, who was a musician.

'I said "I'd love to but it's next week and I haven't got any time to rehearse because I'm in the south of France". She was like "Don't worry, we'll come out there and we'll rehearse with you".'

However, she explained things did not go smoothly and the star got 'the right hump' before accusing Lily of plotting to woo her partner when she suggested they rehearsed together alone.

She said: 'They come to the south of France, they arrive, and it's like late afternoon and she's like "I think you guys should sing The Sound of Silence".

'And I was like, "Ooh, I don't know about that, I really don't want to - that's out of my comfort zone". And she got the right hump.

'I was like "I think maybe we would be better suited to doing something like Something Stupid".

'I said, "Look, I'll go downstairs with your boyfriend and we'll practice the song and then we'll come up and then we'll sing it for you and see how you feel about it".

'And she grabbed my arm and she said, "If you think I'm leaving you alone with my f***ing boyfriend you've got another think coming".'

Lily said she was left shaken by the incident, but decided to channel her feelings into revenge.

She said: 'I was on my own in this house and it was the two of them and just me, and she was quite a lot older than me, and a lot more famous and more successful, and I just thought "I'm stranded and you've got me snookered".'

'And I was like, "I'm banking this feeling and I will remember it, and I will get you back one day".

'Her boyfriend was not someone I found remotely attractive and she was incredibly beautiful - still is - and so should not have found me remotely a threat. I was definitely in my like puffy strung out phase.'

To add insult to injury, following the charity event Lily said the star 'never said thank you for my involvement.'

A few weeks later she was approached by an awards ceremony to be honoured with a prestigious award.

Lily recalled: 'And then they said, "Is there anybody that you would like to present you with the said award?" I was like "At what point in the proceedings does this award get awarded?" And they were like it's the penultimate award.

'I was like, "There is no way this person will be able to hold themselves together for that long and if I can stay sober then she'll have to present me with the award when I'm looking pristine and brilliant and she looks completely f***ed".'

She added that her devious plan was a success, saying: 'And it f***ing worked. Front cover of the papers the next day were like "So and so was a complete mess", and then pictures of me with my award.'

Despite the previous bad blood, Lily insisted that she has since forgiven the unknown celebrity and addressed her publicly to apologise for being 'particularly petty'.

Allen doesn't name the woman in question, but it could have been supermodel Kate Moss, 50.

The British star was in attendance at the Hoping's Got Talent charity fundraiser, an event arranged by Moss and held at London's Café de Paris - in 2009.

On the night, Allen helped raise £48,350 for children's charity The Hoping Foundation after taking to the stage with Moss' then-boyfriend Jamie Hince, guitarist with rock band The Kills, for a rendition of Dream A Little Dream Of Me.

The X-Factor themed event was also attended by stars including Guy Ritchie, Jemima Khan, Will Young, Tracy Emin and David Walliams as guests raised money for children's community projects in Palestinian refugee camps.

Moss would eventually marry Hince in 2011 during an intimate ceremony at St Peter's Church in Gloucestershire, before filing for divorce five years later.

The anecdote also pointed to Moss, who presented Allen with the Women Of The Year gong at the 2009 GQ Awards.

The event did not end well for Moss, who was pictured storming out after actor James Nesbitt made a risqué joke at her expense, with subsequent pictures drawing attention to her blemished complexion.

Reflecting on the incident on her podcast, Allen said: 'That person I actually really like them now. It was just a particularly bad phase that both of us were going through at the time.

'All is forgiven on my part anyway. But she's probably just finding out. So if you are listening and you recognise yourself in this story, I'm sorry. It was particularly petty.'

Sharing relationship details

Lily's outspokenness naturally lends itself to her role of podcast host, and details of her relationship with Stranger Things actor David Harbour are no exception from the topics discussed.

Lily and David started dating in 2019, before tying the knot in a Las Vegas ceremony a year later.

The 39-year-old doesn't hold back from inviting the public into the juicy details of their story, and recently revealed details of David's 'intense' hand 'stroking' technique.

Lily told her best friend Miquitaon their Miss Me? podcast: 'We went out on a couple of dates.

'We'd been out for dinner a couple of times and then the third time I went out with him we went to the theatre to go and see The Lehman Trilogy.

'It's a very long play, it's in three parts, there's two intervals. I think it was in the first bit of the play, the first third, he just like grabbed my hand and started like stroking it - almost like f***ing it with his hand or something.

'It was the most intense thing. I was like very English, "Ooh my goodness, this person likes me - they want to be intimate with me".

And then he like whispered in my ear - I guess it was obvious the first third was coming to a crescendo - he was like "Shall we just like get out of here?"

'It was really hard to get tickets to this play as well. And then we left - and the rest was history.' She added: 'It was very intense. I hadn't really had that (before).

'It's not very British is it, like on the third date, like literally grabbed my hand and started stroking me.

'And it was in an environment that it was like I couldn't like say anything. I was like "Oh God". It was hot.'