Singer Lily Allen appeared on the Radio Times podcast this week, where she claimed that her children have stopped her from having a successful career.
“I never really had a strategy when it comes to career, but yes, my children ruined my career,” she told host Kelly-Anne Taylor. “I love them and they complete me, but in terms of pop-stardom, they totally ruined it.” Allen has two children from a previous marriage — daughters Ethel Mary, age 12, and Marnie Rose, age 11.
Allen is currently married to “Stranger Things” star David Harbour.
Allen went on to say that she stepped back from singing in order to focus on raising her children.
“It really annoys me when people say you can have it all because, quite frankly, you can’t,” she said. “Some people choose their career over their children, and that’s their prerogative. But my parents were quite absent when I was a kid, and I feel like that really left some nasty scars that I’m not willing to, you know, repeat on mine.”
While it’s laudable that she recognized that her children need their mother, it’s also tragic that she considers her role as a mother “ruined” anything. Her comments also underscore a more widespread problem in a society that views children as an inconvenience and makes it difficult for mothers who want to care for their children while following their dreams.
And it seems little has changed in the entertainment industry since the “old Hollywood” days of Judy Garland, Lana Turner, Jean Harlow, and Joan Crawford, who were discouraged from motherhood and even coerced into abortions for the sake of a studio’s profit, with parenthood ‘penalty clauses’ even written into stars’ contracts. The entertainment industry seems largely hostile to the idea of parenthood and children — painting them as a hindrance to career success, even today.
Allen’s comments were not the first time that she has indicated that her children are an inconvenience; she previously admitted having an abortion and has been an outspoken pro-abortion advocate. In 2017, she posted on Twitter: “God, having an abortion is such fun, think I might get pregnant and enjoy having one while I still can, just for old times sake.” This, of course, sarcastically implies that abortion is neither fun nor enjoyable… and yet, Allen still supports the idea of women having the ability to kill their own preborn children.
God, having an abortion is such fun, think I might get pregnant and enjoy having one while I still can, just for old times sake.
— Lily Allen (@lilyallen) September 8, 2017
In an Instagram post from 2022, she advocated for abortion for any reason, saying women shouldn’t have to justify killing their preborn children.
“I wish people would stop posting examples of exceptional reasons for having abortions,” she wrote. “Most people i know, myself included, just didn’t want to have a f****** baby. AND THAT IS REASON ENOUGH! WE DON’T HAVE TO JUSTIFY IT.”
In 2022, following the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade, she dedicated a performance of her song, “F*** You” at Britain’s Glastonbury Festival to the SCOTUS justices in protest of the decision.
Allen could have used her platform as an opportunity to advocate for mothers and praise motherhood. Instead, her disparaging comments mean that her daughters now run the risk of believing that because of them, their mother was unable to have the successful career she wanted.
