UPDATE — 8/25, 5:45 p.m. ET: Days after first revealing she returned her rescue dog, Allen clarified that the dog was quickly rehomed.
Lily Allen is speaking out in regards to the “really tough” time she has been experiencing consequently of backlash to her recent admittance that she returned an adopted puppy to the shelter.
In a post to X on Sunday, August 25, the “Smile” singer, 39, said “people have been furiously reacting” to her decision to send back the dog, on account of the actual fact it destroyed the family’s passports, and the criticism has “impacted [her] family.”
“We rescued our puppy Mary from a shelter in NY and we loved her very much, BUT she developed pretty severe separation anxiety and would act out in all manner of the way,” Allen explained within the post.
“She couldn’t be left alone for greater than 10 mins, she had 3 long walks a day 2 by us and 1 with an area dog walker and a number of other other dogs,” she continued. “We worked with the shelter that we rescued her from they usually referred us to a behavioral specialist and an expert trainer, it was a volunteer from the shelter who would come and dog sit her after we were away, and after many months and far deliberation everyone was in agreement that our home wasn’t the perfect fit for Mary.”
Allen further clarified that the puppy was rehomed almost immediately with a trusted individual. “The person who she was rehomed with was known to us and that rehoming happened inside 24 hours of her being returned. We couldn’t meet Mary’s needs and her happiness and welfare were central to us making that call, as difficult because it was.”
“I’ve had rescue dogs pretty consistently throughout my life since I used to be 4 years old, I’m pretty good at ascertaining a dogs needs,” Allen emphasized.”I even have never been accused of mistreating an animal, and I’ve found this whole week very distressing.”
Original story:
Lily Allen recently admitted that she returned an adopted puppy after it destroyed a few of Allen’s very essential documents.
Speaking on the August 21 episode of her “Miss Me?” podcast, which she hosts with friend Miquita Oliver, the “Smile” singer, 39, explained that after rescuing a dog to hitch her family, the animal “ate” her and her children’s passports, leading to her returning the pup to the shelter it got here from.
“We actually did adopt a dog already, but then it ate my passport and so I took her back to the house,” she clarified.
“She ate all three of our passports they usually had our visas in,” Allen added. “ I cannot inform you how much money it cost me to get every part replaced, since it was in Covid and so it was just an absolute logistical nightmare.”
Allen, who currently lives in Recent York together with her two kids and husband David Harbour, further fumed that the dog’s actions kept her children away from their dad, her ex Sam Cooper, who resides across the pond. (Allen and Cooper, 46, share daughters Ethel Mary, 12, and Marnie Rose, 11.)
“Since the father of my children lives in England, I couldn’t take them back to see their dad for like 4 months, five months, because this f–king dog had eaten the passports,” she recalled.
“I just couldn’t take a look at her. I used to be like, you’ve ruined my life,” she said of the dog.
Allen didn’t specify the dog’s name, but in keeping with the Each day Mail, she adopted a pup named Mary from a Recent York City animal rescue in 2021. The outlet pointed to an Instagram account that was began to share pictures of the puppy, and abruptly stopped updating without explanation.
Allen, for her part, defended her decision to return the pet by explaining that the animal was a foul overall fit for her family, behavior-wise. “Passports weren’t the one thing she ate, she was a really badly behaved dog and I actually tried very hard together with her,” she said. “It just didn’t work out and the passports were the straw that broke the camel’s back so to talk.”
Allen and Cooper welcomed Ethel Mary in 2011, followed by Marnie Rose in 2013. She and Cooper separated in 2016 and their divorce was finalized in June 2018. She was first linked to Harbour in August 2019, confirming their engagement in May 2020 before the couple tied the knot in Las Vegas that September.