It isn't the type of heartache Lily Allen is known for waxing on about, but the British songbird has come clean on a recent health scare.
The "Smile" singer told U.K. supermarket staple Grazia magazine that she was diagnosed with a heart murmur three months ago. Allen credits the condition with her decision to focus on her health and shed some excess baggage from her frame.
The 22-year-old revealed the diagnosis while accounting for her slimmed-down physique, setting the record straight that her sudden weight loss of 19 pounds and two dress sizes was not the result of attempting to fit into the cookie-cutter starlet mold, a standard she has spoken out against in the past.
"I found out I had a heart murmur about three months ago," she said. "I have been asthmatic all my life, but this was really quite scary."
A heart murmur is typically harmless but can sometimes indicate a hole in the heart or some type of malfunctioning in the valve.
Of her newfound fitness regime, Allen said, "I really want to stress that I haven't done this because I want to become some skinny minnie—I will never be like that...I don't understand people who are crazy thin.
"I used to love nothing more than sitting in front of the telly with two packets of Ginger Nuts and two bags of milk-bottle sweets—and I'd devour the lot. But this heart thing has made me cut back on all that kind of crap. I now find that, because I am looking after myself, I don't feel like eating the bad stuff so much."
Allen said that after her diagnosis, which came about after she switched doctors, she engaged in a "hard-core routine" at the gym, hitting it up at least three times a week, a major lifestyle change from just a few months ago—a lifestyle change she previously credited to hypnotism.
"I was going pretty crazy back in the summer, drinking way too much and partying loads. But now I don't want to drink so much, I've been cutting back."
Still, the self-proclaimed party girl hasn't exorcised all her demons just yet.
"I should also give up smoking, but haven't quite managed that yet."
Still, the feisty Alright, Still singer has already seen the benefits to her well-being thanks to her new health-centric regime, and she's not the only one who's noticed. Allen recently signed on as the new face and body of Agent Provocateur lingerie, joining the ranks of past spokesmodels Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kate Moss and Dita Von Teese.
Allen's ads will be released in spring 2008.