Why I’m thrilled Lily Allen’s had the last laugh with the Fleet Street hacks
She’s riding high with Miss Me, her podcast with Miquita Oliver, and knowing her from way back when…I’m chuffed she’s doing so well on all levels of life.
Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!
If you haven’t listened to Miss Me yet, I ask you one question – have you been living under a rock?
You see, this podcast - which emerged with hardly any prior warning - has very quickly established itself as THE new podcast du jour.
Why’s it been such a hit? Well, it’s just great chat. There’s not a huge amount too it – but it’s so accessible. Lots of personal insights, loads of funny anecdotes and essentially you listen to it feeling a bit like you’re part of the conversation. Everybody seems to be able to relate to it in some way.
On last week’s episode I was taken aback when I heard Lily discussing the appearance of Billie Eilish. The pair have promised they aren’t going to have celebrity guests regularly – that’s not the point. But hearing Lily reflect on her time in the showbiz world when she was a popstar and how she was triggered about so much of Billie’s appearance on the show was titivating listening. How she navigated the showbiz world. How she felt like everybody was out to get her. The endless tabloid headlines. It was all extremely hardcore back then for a female poster - far more than it is today.
I was on the “other side” being a tabloid reporter and columnist. I was technically supposed to be the one who was ‘hunting’ stories on celebrities like Lily Allen. They sold newspapers and they were dehumanised in the papers as fodder. The more dramatic their life was the better the sales. But the big difference between some of those sketchy journos (who were hacking phones for most of their stories at the time) and me was I had morals and I actually used them.
I knew I wasn’t in the showbiz game for the long run. I knew I wasn’t going to compromise my friendships with people in the public eye for the sake of a story. By the time I was halfway through my run at Closer in the mid to late noughties I knew how to be a good human being and I’d “checked out” of the seedy side of things.
Lily Allen and I go quite far back to when she was emerging as a popstar. I was a fledgling gossip monger. I loved her music. Knew how talented she was from very early on and knew I wasn’t going to shit on her doorstep. We mixed with some of the same people and got to know each other a little bit through the job at first.
But as I started to party more away from the red carpets and hang out at the same venues, we got to know each other a little more. We’d see each other at the Groucho, I’d get the call to interview her as more trust was built and in general I think we just understood each other quite well. There was gossip, we made for good drinking buddies and we’d definitely enjoy each other’s company.
I remember once she called and said she’s like to meet up for lunch. We met at Nobu on Park Lane. When she turned up she told me it was her birthday. I was shocked and just said: “Why the fuck are you having lunch with me on your birthday.” She just said she thought it would be fun to hang out and chat.
We gossiped endlessly about the industry. I moaned about my job on Fleet Street, she moaned about life with the paparazzi on her 24/7. We could moan happily to each other and it was a safe space. She knew if she was in a bind I could help her wriggle out of it on the newspaper side. But she wouldn’t take the piss and we weren’t exactly best buddies. But we liked each other. I also wasn’t being used for press purposes like some others like Myleene Klass or James Corden had done in the past. I think we were genuine ‘showbiz’ pals.
That day at Nobu she told me her then newborn daughter had been seriously ill. I didn’t write it. No doubt that would have been a ‘splash’. The thought didn’t even cross my mind. She was just a new mum dealing with the perils of motherhood. On top of that she was being followed by cameras all the time and she was clearly struggling. It was probably around the same time she was realising she had demons bubbling away with her alcohol and substance abuse. And probably when there was a stalker on the scene (which sounds horrendous). It was all just a lot for her back then. I came away from the lunch feeling pretty sad for her. I didn’t think she was happy.
We had a few party nights out. There was a very funny one with Miquita and Lily when Tom Parker Bowles joined us rather late back at her flat in Queen’s Park. We made the poor guy leave because we wouldn’t stop asking him if he’d seen his father-in-law, the future King Charles, naked. He was fuming with our childish antics. Rightly so. We thought we were hilarious.
That night she also played me lots of the Bridget Jones musical songs which she’d been working on the time, and that was a delight to hear. A travesty it never came to anything…
Anyway, I digress. The thing with Lily is she’s a talent and she was a young girl who became famous very quickly and it the beast that is fame took her and dragged her through some of the best years of her life success wise. She was chewed up and spat out by the tabloids and the ‘game’. She was being hunted by the old men on the top desks of the tabloids. They were gunning for her and actively bringing her down. I heard it with my own ears. They hated a woman who was strong and clever. The wolves wanted to take her out and to be honest she never stood a chance against them.
In some ways she really reminded me of Peaches Geldof. Both were clever, talented and were being hunted daily by the tabloids. Goodness me, if Peaches were here today she’d have the best podcast out there. She was years ahead of the game with her knowledge of the industry and how it worked.
Since those crazy mucky tabloid days, Lily’s gone away and got clean and sober, met a lovely guy, got married, become far more engaged in her children’s lives and from an outsider’s perspective looks happier and more in control than ever before. I’ve loved seeing Lily thriving on all aspects of her life. The performance in 2.22 A Ghost Story was excellent, she was epic in The Pillowman and she has Hedda coming up which I’ll definitely see.
Sadly, I’ve not had the chance to sit down with her for many years. We kinda lost touch. But we follow each other and check in occasionally. She knows if she’s ever in the shit and needed help she could call. But she’s probably not needing my help these days.
If we were to sit down for lunch though, the one thing I’d love to chat out with her is this subject. Has she been through the same PTSD style detachment from the showbiz beast like I did…
You see, people think when you step out from working on the showbiz columns you just snap back into the next job or world you choose to enter. That wasn’t the case for me AT ALL. I left journalism 12 or so years ago now. Only in the past two years – partly due to writing here on Substack and gaining my confidence in writing again – have I been able to work through the 15 or so years I spent on the papers and magazines. Deal with some of the compromising and ethically challenging positions I found myself in. It was a really hard time to reflect upon and face up to. I had to own my own narrative, be truthful about it all and try and discuss openly where I’m at now. There’s been therapy, lots of support from friends and to be honest I’ve had to lean into my time within the showbiz machine to understand all that went on.
From where I’m sat, Lily’s survived the crazy showbiz years – more than likely because she’s stopped drinking, partying and grew as a human along the way. Without meaning to be patronising in any way, I’m proud of her and couldn’t be happier for all this current success and where she is ion her life. She deserves it all. As does Miquita!
But Lil, now the podcast is a runaway hit…we need some music to match. Feels like the world is ready for new music from Lily Allen.
PS. She’s also the first person who pledged to pay for my writing here on Substack. I’ve not activated my paid-for content yet. Still a little bit of imposter syndrome present. But I will sometime when it feels right. Thank you, Lily. My first Substack Pledger.
PPS. Listen to the new episode of Miss Me that inspired this newsletter below…
Until next week, Kids.
I absolutely love the podcast. It’s refreshingly honest and candid and the pair of them sound like two pals having one of those very natural conversations we all have in a pub! It’s so funny. I’ve always liked Lily…. I like her vibe and think she has a great sense of humour and I like the fact she can look back and acknowledge her mistakes. That’s why I started my Substack - not that anyone would care. I actually write it for me so I can make remember and make peace with the past. We all reach a point in our lives where we reflect and acknowledge the good and bad things that happened in our lives. It’s very refreshing. Keep up the good work Dean - I love your posts!