Lily Allen: Singer says having children ‘totally ruined’ her music career
Lily Allen has said her two children “complete” her but having them “totally ruined” her music career.
The British singer, 38, shares two daughters – 11-year-old Ethel Mary and nine-year-old Marnie Rose – with ex-husband Sam Cooper.
When asked if she had to rethink her career after having her children, Allen jokingly said: “Yes, my children ruined my career.”
“I love them and they complete me, but in terms of popstardom, they totally ruined it,” she added, speaking on the Radio Times podcast.
Lily Allen with her two daughters Marnie and Ethel. Pic: PA
Allen, who is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen, said she chose to take a step away from the limelight to focus on raising her daughters after feeling like her own parents were “quite absent” when she was growing up.
“I get really annoyed 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. I feel like it left some nasty scars that I’m not willing to repeat on mine.
“I chose to step back and concentrate on them. I’m glad that I’ve done that because I think they’re pretty well-rounded.”
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Having quickly shot to fame in 2006 with the release of her single Smile – which went to number one in the UK charts – Allen took a break from music after the release of 2014 album Sheezus, bringing out her last album four years later.
Allen and Stranger Things actor husband David Harbour. Pic: PA
She hit headlines again in 2020 after news emerged of her marriage to Stranger Things actor David Harbour in Las Vegas.
The singer, whose hit songs also include LDN, The Fear and Not Fair, has since turned to acting, appearing in the play 2:22 A Ghost Story in London’s West End, for which she received an Olivier Award nomination in 2022.
She later appeared in the dark comedy play The Pillowman and also in 2023 played Mel in Sky Atlantic’s comedy Dreamland about four sisters living in the Kent seaside town of Margate.
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Om Fahad: Iraqi social media influencer shot dead by gunman on motorbike who posed as food delivery rider – report
A well-known Iraqi social media influencer has reportedly been shot dead in her car by a gunman on a motorbike.
Om Fahad, whose real name is Ghufran Sawadi, was killed outside her home in Baghdad’s Zayouna district on Friday, according to the AFP news agency, citing security officials.
It appears the unidentified attacker pretended to be delivering food to the victim, one security source said.
Om Fahad, who has nearly half a million TikTok followers, became famous for posting light-hearted videos where she dances to Iraqi music.
Six days ago, she shared footage of herself driving in a car and also posing in front of a mirror. They have each been watched hundreds of thousands of times.
The influencer was sentenced to six months in prison in February last year for sharing videos that a court ruled contained “indecent speech that undermines modesty and public morality”.
A campaign was launched in 2023 by the Iraqi government to clamp down on social media content which broke the country’s “morals and traditions”.
The interior ministry set up a committee to look for “offensive” clips on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, with several influencers being arrested.
“This type of content is no less dangerous than organised crime,” the ministry declared in a promotional video which asked the public to help by reporting such content.
“It is one of the causes of the destruction of the Iraqi family and society.”
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Speaking last year, interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan argued the morality campaign has “nothing to do with freedom of expression”.
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In 2018, gunmen in Baghdad shot dead Tara Fares, who was a model and influencer.
After years of war and sectarian conflict following the 2003 US invasion that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq has returned to some semblance of normality despite sporadic violence, political instability and corruption.
But civil liberties, particularly among women and sexual minorities, are still constrained in a conservative and male-dominated society.
R Kelly’s challenge against a 20-year sentence for child sex convictions has been quashed by an appeals court.
The singer was correctly sentenced to 20 years in prison, a Chicago court ruled on Friday.
He was convicted in 2022 on three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex.
In his appeal, Kelly, 57, argued Illinois’ old statute of limitations – which required prosecution of child sex crime charges within 10 years – should have applied, rather than the current law permitting charges while an accuser is still alive.
The appeals court rejected this, labelling it an attempt by Kelly to elude the charges entirely after “employing a complex scheme to keep victims quiet”.
He also argued that charges involving one accuser should have been tried separately from the charges tied to three other accusers due to video evidence that became a focal point of the Chicago trial.
Prosecutors have said the video showed Kelly abusing a girl. The accuser, only identified as Jane, testified for the first time that she was 14 when the video was taken.
The three-judge panel from the appeals court noted jurors acquitted Kelly on seven of the 13 counts against him “even after viewing those abhorrent tapes”.
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In a written statement, Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean said they plan to seek a US Supreme Court review of the decision and “pursue all of his appellate remedies until we free R Kelly”.
“We are disappointed in the ruling, but our fight is far from over,” she said.
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