Lily Allen reveals eating disorder battle

Lily Allen has revealed in a new Channel 4 documentary that she suffered with an eating disorder in 2009. The singer will appear in three-part series Lily Allen: From Riches To Rags, which begins next week. The Mirror reports that Allen admitted her battle in scenes filmed last year.

“There was a point last summer where I had an eating disorder, I used to vomit after meals,” she confesses. “It is not something I am proud of. But I tell you what, a lot of people used to come up to me and tell me how great I looked.

“And I was on the cover of every magazine with them saying, ‘Lily is looking amazing – look how much weight she has lost’. I thought I looked good.”

She continued: “It was great to try on clothes and walk out of the shop feeling a million dollars. When you have been a victim of people saying the complete opposite, you want more of it. But I wasn’t happy, I really wasn’t. I would like to be the skinniest, mini-est person in the world, but I know I can’t do that without being unhappy. I like my food.

“The only reason I’ve lost weight is because I comfort eat when I’m not very happy. I was all around the world working hard and was confused and lonely. I was sitting in hotel rooms ordering chips.”

The 25-year-old, who released her second album It’s Not Me, It’s You in 2009, admitted that she had ‘retired’ from the music industry because she did not want to end up “like Madonna”.

“People who are famous and successful and live in this mad world tend to die really early, or kill themselves, or die in a drugs overdose. I’d rather not so I figure I will go and eat,” she said. “My idea of hell would be doing this in 25 years’ time. I don’t want to be like Madonna – look at her, she’s mental.

“No offence but that is not what drives me. I want to get married and have kids and make sandwiches cutting the crusts off.”

Lily Allen: From Riches To Rags beings on March 15 at 10pm on Channel 4.