Lily Allen opens up about stillbirth: “I don’t feel sorry for myself”
The singer tells Jonathan Ross about her heartbreak and says she's not a “bad mother”
Lily Allen has bravely opened up about the stillbirth tragedy she suffered 4 years ago. The 29-year-old’s son William was stillborn at 6 months in 2010.
In a TV interview with Jonathan Ross that will air on Saturday’s show, Lily describes it as "the most unfortunate thing that can ever happen". But she goes on to explain that she was thankful for her husband Sam Cooper’s support.
"I think it's difficult for anybody regardless of what world they live in and actually what I took home from that experience was… Even though it was the most unfortunate thing that can ever happen to a person, I was very fortunate in the sense that I have a loving partner to go home to and share that experience with."
Mum to Ethel Mary, who is almost 3, and 22-month-old Marnie Rose, Lily says she still counts her blessings.
"There are many women – 17 stillbirths in the UK every day – that go home and they don't have that support, they have to go home and deal with that on their own so I am kind of in a bit of a – since that happened – in a count my blessings scenario rather than feeling sorry for myself."
"Double standard" for mums
After taking time off from the music industry to have her children, Lily (who's dyed her hair blonde) made a return to singing last year. But she feels she was then criticised by the press for “abandoning” her kids.
She also points out there’s a "double standard" for mums compared with dads.
"They had sort of insinuated it was that ‘she’s a mother of two, abandoning her children...’ I’m in a car with a father of two and at no point has anyone alluded to him abandoning his children!" she explains.
"There is a double standard. And also it’s completely false because my children are with me most of the time. If there are photographers around, I make sure that I go in a different car because I don’t want them to have guys with what look like guns pointing at them the whole time and chasing them…"
Lily defends her parenting
Since appearing on the chat show, Lily has continued the discussion by taking to Twitter to defend her parenting. She says just because you don’t see pictures of her kids, doesn’t mean she’s a bad mother.
"It's sad that because I don't post pictures of my children across social media and my trying to shelter them from men wielding cameras that to a 3 year old look like guns, that the British media insist on insinuating therefore that I am a bad mother. I am brilliant," she tweeted. "And I will continue to protect them from all the cynicism and grotesque consumerist misogyny till the day I die."
Well said Lil!
Photos: Instagram/Lily Allen and Twitter / Lily Allen
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