Lily Allen Breaks Silence on Checking into Treatment Center to Combat 'Emotional Turmoil' After David Harbour Split
Lily Allen revealed on her podcast Miss Me? that she recently spent several weeks at a treatment center amid "emotional turmoil." Sources told PEOPLE earlier this month that she and husband David Harbour had separated after four years of marriage.
Lily Allen at the Giorgio Armani RTW Spring 2025 fashion show held at the Park Avenue Armory on October 17, 2024 in New York, New York. . Photo:
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Lily Allen is speaking to the benefits of her recent stay at a treatment center, as she says she is now in a âstronger placeâ following a time of âemotional turmoil.â
The âSmileâ singer â who recently separated from husband David Harbour after four years of marriage, multiple sources told PEOPLE â addressed her mental health on her return to her BBC podcast Miss Me?, which aired on Thursday, Feb. 13.
âI just feel very grateful to have been given the time and the space that I needed. I went into a sort of treatment center for a few weeks, which was great,â Allen, 39, said. âI did a lot of group therapy and some individual therapy and I just, I needed some time and space away from everything.â
The star said she did a lot of shadow work about her âinner child stuffâ while in treatment, and while it âwas not easy by any stretch,â she knows healing is a âlifelong journey.â
Allen and Harbour, 49, married in 2020, and a source recently told PEOPLE she was âdevastatedâ by the split, which was âbeen very hard for her and her girls.â The singer is mom to daughters Marnie Rose, 12, and Ethel Mary, 13, whom she shares with ex-husband Sam Cooper.
David Harbour and Lily Allen's Relationship Timeline
David Harbour and Lily Allen attend The Olivier Awards 2022 with MasterCard at the Royal Albert Hall on April 10, 2022 in London, England.
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On the podcast, Allen said people often think that she âhate[s]â her children, which she does not. She explained that her decision to seek treatment was with them in mind.
âI absolutely adore my children and Iâm in a situation now where I really have to be my strongest self for them. And I felt like it was getting harder and harder for me to be able to show up for them in the way that they need me to,â she said. âIt was a really big decision to have to leave them for a few weeks to go and focus on myself, but ultimately it was for them. Yes, itâs for me, but itâs for them so that I can get us through this bit. I needed some help to be able to do that.â
Allen added that she never wanted her daughters to feel as though they have to âprop me up,â as none of her struggles are their fault, and itâs her job to make them âfeel safe and secure.â
âI just donât think I was able to do that because of the sort of emotional turmoil that I was in at the time,â she said. âBut I do feel like I am now. Iâm not saying Iâm 100% there and Iâm not saying that Iâm getting it 100% right or ever will but Iâm definitely in a stronger place.â
Lily Allen and daughters Marnie Rose Cooper and Ethel Cooper attend "Stranger Things" season 4 premiere on May 14, 2022.
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Lily Allen 'Devastated' Following David Harbour Split: 'It's Been Very Hard for Her' (Exclusive Source)
She previously said on her podcast in January that she and her daughters "are a support network for each other" amid a "tough" time.
It remains unclear just what sort of treatment center the star was at and when, but she said she was at the facility when the Los Angeles fires broke out on Jan. 7, and ultimately wound up in the city a week later for work on a new musical.
She also revealed that sheâs had issues with her medication over the last year, and feels as though that was âa big part of where things became unmanageableâ for her. She said one antidepressant âreally did not work for me,â but thinks she is âon the right track [now].â
Allen and Stranger Things star Harbour were married in Las Vegas after meeting on the celebrity dating app Raya. She previously alluded to a âtough timeâ on her podcast, which she said was affecting her mental health and causing her problems with her eating.