Trigger warning: This article deals with stillbirth and loss.
Musician Lily Allen has opened up about her stillbirth experience and how she is still affected to this day.
In a heartbreaking interview, Allen discussed how at just 25-years-old, she fell pregnant to her former husband Sam Cooper. Six months into the pregnancy, she ran into some complications which ultimately led to the stillbirth.
Lily and her former husband Sam Cooper.
Speaking with BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Allen said she went into early labour. In an attempt to stop it, doctors put a stitch in her cervix, however she went into full labour a week later.
Lily spoke of the harrowing events that followed: “And as I was delivering him, the doctors said, ‘There was a pulse and now there no longer is.’ The cord was wrapped around his neck and he was just too small.”
Because of how small he was, the baby “got stuck” halfway in and halfway out, and because his skin wasn’t fully formed the doctors were unable to pull him out with forceps.
This meant there was a prolonged period where her stillborn son lay with her, which was incredibly traumatic, she told BBC.
The singer-songwriter spoke openly about the stillbirth.
The now 33-year-old said she doesn’t think she will ever recover from the experience.
“It was horrendous and something I would not wish on my worst enemy. It’s something that I still haven’t dealt with … But it’s not something that you get over,” she previously told The Sun on Sunday.
To make matters worse, Allen was hounded by internet trolls last year about her stillbirth. The encounter led her to take a break from her Twitter account.
She wrote: “My timeline is full of the most disgusting, sexist, misogynistic, racist sh**. Really, new levels. I’m no masochist so I’ll be back x.”
Over the past week, fans who listened to the BBC interview took to Twitter, this time to thank Lily for being so honest.
One wrote: “Thank you for being so open about the loss of your baby. You know it really helps to hear other women talking about their experiences. Sending big love to you.”
Another said: “Brilliant interview on Women’s Hour. So honest and strong ❤️”.
Allen shot to fame during the 2000s with hit singles including ‘Smile’ and ‘LDN’
Lily has since had two daughters with Cooper – Ethel, 6, and Marnie, 5. The parents split in 2015.
Allen has been outspoken on serious topics previously. Last year, she expressed outrage at the handling of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, accusing the media of downplaying the death toll.
“If we are talking about bringing reality into these people’s lives, I think what people would really like is a more honest count of how many people have actually died in this event, how many people have been killed,” she told Channel 4.
The singer-songwriter has also just released a new memoir called My Thoughts Exactly which includes a number of candid and confronting stories about her past.
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