Lily Allen insists she’s ‘not gentrifying’ after buying flat in social housing building
'I don't feel like I'm gentrifying'
Lily Allen has revealed she’s living in a flat that used to be council housing following her split from David Harbour.
The pop star, 39, wed Stranger Things star David, 49, in 2020. They raised Lily’s two daughters, Marnie and Ethel, together, whom she shares with ex-husband Sam Cooper.
It’s believed they parted ways in December, and she was later spotted on the celebrity dating app Raya.
Following a stint in rehab and taking a break from the podcast Miss Me? that she co-hosts with Miquita Oliver, Lily has returned to spill all the tea.
Speaking in a new episode about the topic of gentrification, Lily revealed she has bought and moved into a new flat in London.
The Smile singer said the flat is an ex-council property in a building that has a mixture of social and privately-owned homes.
The singer said: ‘I don’t feel like I am coming from outside and coming into the area and gentrifying it.’ (Picture: Shane Anthony Sinclair/Getty Images)However, she explained that she hopes she isn’t contributing to gentrification because she grew up in the local area.
‘This flat that I’ve bought, is in a social housing building, I have kind of given myself a “get out” clause because it is slap bang in the area which I grew up in, so I don’t feel like I am coming from outside and coming into the area and gentrifying it,’ she explained.
Allen added that she’s always had her eye on a flat in the building, so jumped on it when the opportunity arose.
Lily returned from a stint in rehab with a live show with her podcast co-host (Picture: lilyallen/Instagram)‘I have wanted to live in this building since I was a baby, it’s been a dream of mine forever and finally a flat became available in here and I was in a position to buy it and I did. But I know people have got judgement around it.’
She was quick to clarify that she is not the first private owner of the property, saying: ‘It’s a privately owned flat, so I didn’t buy it from the council, I bought it off another private owner.’
She added: ‘There’s no separate entrance for the privately owned people. Everyone really gets along. We smile and chat with each other in the lifts.’
The Smile hitmaker tends to speak very candidly on Miss Me? (Picture: Emily Manley)The comments follow Lily’s first public appearance since a stint in rehab, when she made a triumphant return to the spotlight last week with a live show with Miquita.
Speaking about the breakdown of her four-year marriage, she reportedly told the venue: ‘I am not over it.’
The Smile hitmaker added, as per The Sun: ‘I am sort of running away. Maybe I will have a nervous breakdown.’
She proceeded to criticise both David and builder Sam, to whom her marriage ended in 2018, for their sexual abilities.
David was helping raise Lily’s biological daughters Marnie Rose Cooper and Ethel Cooper throughout their marriage (Picture: Kristin Callahan/REX/Shutterstock)‘I don’t think there has been one person that has been remotely interested in my pleasure,’ she declared.
‘I have actual d**k blindness.’
Lily continued: ‘I can’t even picture, not even my ex-husband’s or boyfriend’s. I can’t picture them at all. Apart from one, as I have pictures of it on my phone.’
It’s said that Lily discovering David on a dating app was the catalyst for their marriage ending, with insiders claiming they had been living ‘separate lives’ for a while.
Last month, David was spotted on a date with aspiring model Ellie Fallon, who is 22 years younger than him.
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