Lily Allen reveals ‘extremely heavy few weeks' after social media ban
The LDN singer's ex-relationship has put a huge strain on her mental health (Picture: Getty Images)
Lily Allen is feeling the weight of a tough year – and she's not keeping it to herself.
The British singer has revealed she's been 'incredibly low' in recent months, following the breakdown of her marriage to actor David Harbour.
On her podcast Miss Me?, which she co-hosts with friend Miquita Oliver, Allen opened up about the emotional toll her separation has taken.
She described a sense of spiralling, paired with intense panic attacks that left her feeling out of control.
The 00's icon also revealed she was often bored whilst living in New York and has now stopped using social media to improve her mental health.
She admitted she has gone cold turkey on her use of social media in order to get her mental health back on track, 'I'm nearly two weeks into a complete social media ban.'
She's still recovering from the breakdown of her marriage to David Harbour
(Picture: James Shaw/REX/Shutterstock)
The Smile hitmaker has been very open about her mental health on her podcast (Picture: BBC Sounds)
The singer went on to say, 'I don't have that much to do here in New York during the day and so I guess I would find myself sitting on Instagram and scrolling or being narcissistic and posting or reading my responses and getting that dopamine fix.'
Allen compared her ban of social media to withdrawing from drugs: 'I think I was having withdrawal symptoms. It was horrible, I mean, I really did feel like I was withdrawing from drugs or something, it was crazy.'
In a raw moment of honesty, Allen admitted she needed professional help to improve her worsening mental health.
The 40-year-old subsequently checked herself into a trauma treatment centre near her US home.
This wasn't about rehab, she clarified – it was purely to address her mental health.
The facility, which offers intensive therapy and costs around £8,000 a week, became her temporary home while she worked through her feelings post-breakup.
Allen recently found out her now estranged husband, Harbour, was on the celebrity dating app Raya. This news triggered a spiral of poor mental health for the pop icon.
She didn't hold back as she described the sting of discovering that detail.
Allen took a break from the podcast late last year (Picture: lilyallen/Instagram)
The former couple ironically met on the dating app Raya back in 2018.
Speaking on the Jonathan Ross Show, Lily was just swiping for fun when she came across her ex-lover David, ''I didn't know who he was. I thought he was just like a sexy policeman from a reality TV show because he was wearing a policeman's uniform. It was a still from Stranger Things. I'd never seen Stranger Things,'
Turning 40 was another major milestone, one she approached with both celebration and reflection.
She shared snippets of her birthday online, surrounded by friends and family who she said 'really showed up' for her.
Now back in London and living with her two daughters, Allen says she's working on building a calmer, more grounded life.
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