Lily Allen has announced she is taking a break from her BBC podcast Miss Me?, citing poor mental health and a “tough period” in her life.
Speaking on a newly released episode, she said: “You’re not going to hear me for a few weeks, listeners.”
Discussing awards ceremonies with co-host Miquita Oliver, she said: “I’m finding it hard to be interested in anything. I’m really not in a good place. I know I’ve been talking about it for months, but I’ve been spiralling and spiralling and spiralling, and it’s got out of control.”
She said she had suffered panic attacks, and as a result was forced to leave recent social engagements early.
She added: “There will be speculation, because of the amount of time that I’m going to be taking away, that I’m going to drug rehab, and I’m not. I’ve not relapsed.”
She complained of online gossip – “horrible blind items on the internet … vicious rumours” – that had suggested she was using drugs. Allen has been sober for five years.
She has previously spoken of an addiction to prescription drug Adderall in 2014, and of drinking and class A drug use. Speaking to the Guardian in June, she said: “Drugs and alcohol were very good at drowning out my inner critic. When you take cocaine you think all of your ideas are brilliant and need to be shared.”
Allen has long been the subject of intense scrutiny in the press and online. In recent weeks unnamed sources quoted in the tabloid press have alleged difficulties in her marriage to actor David Harbour, which Allen and Harbour have not publicly commented on.
She began Miss Me? in 2024, the latest venture in a varied career that began in the mid-00s with a successful stint in pop music. Allen scored 10 UK Top 10 singles, three of them No 1s, namely Smile, The Fear and her cover of Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know.
In 2021 she branched out into acting, earning an Olivier award nomination for her performance in West End play 2:22 A Ghost Story. She followed it with a starring role in The Pillowman and the lead in TV sitcom Dreamland.
She has two daughters with ex-husband Sam Cooper, and spoke candidly about them on her latest Miss Me? episode, saying: “When things in life are going well and swimmingly and you’re coping, it’s really nice to have the kids around – they’re a joy to be around, in fact one of the main sources of joy in one’s life. But when things are not going so well and life is tough – as it is for many people for all manner of reasons – having to hold things together is really hard.”
Oliver said she will continue the podcast in Allen’s absence.
