‘I get really annoyed when people say you can have it all because, quite frankly, you can’t’

The singer was one of the biggest pop stars of the late 2000s, scoring three UK number one singles, 10 top 10 singles and two number one albums during her career.

But in recent years, she’s prioritised family life ahead of her singing career. Allen gave birth to her first daughter, Ethel Mary, in 2011 and her second daughter, Marnie Rose, in 2013.

The 38-year-old has said women have to decide whether to put their career or children first, and that ‘you can’t have it all.’

Speaking to the Radio Times Podcast, she said: “My children ruined my career. I love them and they complete me, but in terms of pop-stardom, they totally ruined it.

“I get really annoyed when people say you can have it all because, quite frankly, you can’t.”

Allen’s father, Keith, left her mother Alison Owen when Lily was just four years old, and the singer said she didn’t want to “repeat” the “scars” that her childhood left on her.

“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.”

She added that she was happy she’d chosen to focus on her children as they’re now “pretty well-rounded.”

Allen currently lives in New York with her children and her husband, Stranger Things star David Harbour, with the couple having married in 2020.

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