Lily Allen Says Having Kids ‘Ruined’ Her Career

Whether or not women can “have it all” is a debate still to be settled, but when “all” includes an all-consuming pop music career…yeah, no. As Lily Allen pointed out, it’s pretty much impossible to square the demands of being a pop star with those of being a mom if you want to be involved the way she does. And it’s a trade-off she doesn’t regret.

“I never really have a strategy when it comes to career, but yes, my children ruined my career,” she quipped during a Radio Times podcast conversation released on March 12, per CNN. “I mean, I love them and they complete me, but in terms of pop stardom, totally ruined it.” She’s not complaining, just dryly stating facts!

“It really annoys me when people say you can have it all because, quite frankly, you can’t,” the “Smile” singer continued. “Some people choose their career over their children and that’s their prerogative.”

Lily Allen shares two daughters with her ex Sam Cooper, and now lives in Brooklyn with her kids and her husband, Stranger Things star David Harbour. She knows better than most the demands of the entertainment industry, having grown up with an actor and a producer for parents (her brother, Alfie, is also an actor, and played Theon Greyjoy on Game of Thrones). In fact, she delivered a Twitter monologue about it during the nepo-baby discourse. “I feel like [having absent parents] really left some nasty scars that I’m not willing to repeat [on my children],” she said. “I chose stepping back and concentrating on them, and I’m glad that I have done that because I think they’re pretty well-rounded people.”

But she’s not all the way out of the music game. As she told Glamour UK in October 2023, “Yes, I will [go back to music]…. I had a conversation with the record company that I have a distribution deal with yesterday about doing some sessions before Christmas. I’m not saying that I’m working on an album, because I’m definitely not, but I’m getting back into the idea of trying to find a space where some music will reveal itself.”