“I’m really not in a great place mentally" — Lily Allen opens up about a possible eating disorder

British singer-songwriter Lily Allen has shared her ongoing mental health struggles, revealing that they have significantly impacted her eating habits. Speaking on the December 16, 2024, episode of her BBC Sounds podcast Miss Me? co-hosted with her friend Miquita Oliver, the singer admitted that she’s "not in a great place mentally" and that her eating issues have gone unaddressed for years.

During the episode, Allen explained,

"I don’t think that I lie in therapy, but I do often not talk about things I should be talking about... I’ve been going through a tough time over the last few months and my eating has become a real issue."

While the eating issues have persisted for almost three years, Allen only recently brought them up in therapy, and her therapist’s reaction to the revelation prompted her to reflect on why she had been avoiding the topic. Allen provided further insight into her mental state, describing a disconnection between her body and mind and highlighting the difficulty of recognizing physical hunger signals. She said:

"I’m really not in a great place mentally at the moment, and I’m not eating. But I’m not hungry. I obviously am hungry... the messages of hunger are not going from my body to my brain."

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Lily Allen reveals mental health struggles and eating issues on her podcast Miss Me?

The sense of detachment, Lily Allen noted, could be linked to her ADHD diagnosis, which she revealed in April 2023 in an interview with The Times. Allen said her ADHD causes her to "spend a lot of time in [her] head" and not enough time thinking about her body.

This is not the first time Lily Allen has spoken openly about her struggles with eating disorders. In an October 2018 interview with Cosmopolitan, she discussed how, during the promotion of her second album, It’s Not Me, It’s You, she developed disordered eating behaviors. The pressure to look a certain way for photo shoots and red carpets led her to restrict food.

Prior to this, in 2011, she revealed to Channel 4 that she had struggled with bulimia, as per the Independent on December 17, 2024. "It’s not something I am proud of," she admitted, however, the public’s positive response to her weight loss at the time only fueled her disordered eating.

"I was on the cover of every magazine with them saying, 'Lily is looking amazing. Look at how much weight she has lost.' I thought I looked good," she explained.

In 2021, Lily Allen responded to body-shaming comments online after fans remarked that she looked "too thin." As per the Independent, defending her appearance, she replied,

"You’ve never seen me two years completely sober, not smoking and exercising every day."

In the recent podcast episode, Lily Allen also reflected on how her creative pursuits have played a role in her mental health journey. Describing her work as "performative therapy," she noted that it’s often easier to channel her struggles into music than to have "honest, vulnerable" conversations with loved ones.

Meanwhile, Allen's co-host Miquita Oliver offered words of encouragement, reminding the singer that recognizing and acknowledging her struggles is a significant step toward healing.

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Lily Allen is married to actor David Harbour, best known for his role in Stranger Things, and is the mother of two daughters from her previous marriage to Sam Cooper. In recent years, Allen has expanded her creative pursuits, notably venturing into theater.

In August 2021, she made her West End debut in 2:22 A Ghost Story, earning critical acclaim and even a nomination for Best Actress at the Olivier Awards.