British pop star Lily Allen has gone public with her battle with an eating disorder. In a new documentary titled “Lily Allen: Riches to Rags,” she discusses her struggles with multiple miscarriages and reveals that she fought with a serious eating disorder, purging after her meals.
Last fall, Allen made headlines when she was hospitalized with a potentially lethal blood-poisoning condition called septicaemia. The sum of these multiple physical and emotional struggles really took their toll.
“It was a really long battle, and I think that kind of thing changes a person,” says Allen.
In the documentary that will air next week in the UK, the pop star admits to purging herself after meals.
“I used to vomit after meals,” she said. “It’s not something I’m proud of. But, I tell you what, a lot of people came up to me telling me how great I looked and I’d be on the cover of every magazine.”
In a telling remark, one can read between the lines to see Allen’s temptation to succumb to some of our society’s more twisted and shallow expectations of what a female body should look like:
“I thought I looked good and it was great to be able to try on clothes and feel a million dollars. But I wasn’t happy, I really wasn’t,” she said. “I would love to be the skinniest minniest person in the world, but I can’t do that without being unhappy.”
In the fall of 2024, Lilly Allen said she was quitting the music business… and so far she’s held up that promise, at least as a recording artist.
“People who are famous and successful and live in this mad world tend to die really early, or kill themselves, or die in a drug overdose. I’d rather not, so I figure I will go and eat.”
While that may be a sweeping generalization, it’s hard not to admire her desire for some form of normal family life. Allen is making plans to marry her boyfriend, Sam Cooper.
“My idea of hell would be doing this in 25 years’ time. I don’t want to be like Madonna – look at her, she’s mental,” says Allen.
Allen has said she has no plans for renewing her record contract, but she has started her own record label. Backed by Sony Music Allen’s label signed their first band in January. She also has interests in acting and fashion.
(via: Yahoo News UK)