Samir Hussein/Getty Images; DAVE M. BENETT/GETTY IMAGESOn the surface, Lily Allen and the late Amy Winehouse had a lot in common: both were young British singers who came up and gained popularity at roughly the same time. But underneath the surface? Unfortunately, they had even more in common.
Lily sat down with London's Evening Standard magazine this week and revealed that she could easily have fallen into the darker, more destructive sides of showbiz that plagued Winehouse in the months and even years leading up to her death—so much so, that upon hearing the sad news of Amy's passing over the summer, Allen's friends went so far as to tell her they were glad she was still around.
"I've had nights out with Amy and I know exactly what used to go on," Lily explained. "I also spent time with her at her house in Camden. Not the one she died in, the one before. I felt very trapped by the presence of 40 paparazzi guys hysterical outside her front door. I could totally see why she didn't want to leave her house. It seemed more appealing to stay in and take heroin. Why would anyone want that chaos in their life? It's not something anyone chooses."
The 26-year-old said that she felt "really sad" when she first heard the news, but that, "I also felt that she'd become such a cartoon character of herself.
"Her death almost didn't feel real because her life had virtually been lived in the newspapers near the end….Amy struggled…she wanted a real life. She wanted to go down to the pub and she couldn't."
The inability to live life more freely was partially what inspired Lily to move out of London. And it sounds like it might've the right move at the right time.
"Actually, when Amy died, I got several texts from friends saying they were really glad I was still here. That I hadn't died, too. It's so easy to get caught up in that madness and I count my lucky stars I've been strong enough to walk away."
Meanwhile, Lily hasn't been without her own personal hardships, though is currently in the sixth healthy month of her pregnancy. And this time around, she's taking every precaution.
"After my…last baby, I'm being really closely monitored so I come to London every Thursday for a scan. The doctor keeps telling me to take it easy."
And while she and new hubby Sam Cooper are aware of the baby's sex, they're not telling.
"It's between me and the husband. I haven't even told my mum. She thinks she knows what it is and whenever she calls me she refers to the baby as Betty."
Betty Cooper? Has a nice ring to it, if you ask us.