In a new interview with The Guardian Weekend that was previewed online today, Lily Allen has opened up about an experience of sexual assault with a music industry executive. Whilst Allen has often been vocal about sexual assault in the industry this is the first time she has shared details about her experiences.
Related: Lily Allen to tour Australia in 2019
In the interview Allen alleges that after getting “smashed” at a party, an industry executive put her to bed in his hotel room and left her to sleep. Then she told the guardian “I woke up at 5am because I could feel someone next to me pressing their naked body against my back. I was naked, too. I could feel someone trying to put their penis inside my vagina and slapping my arse as if I were a stripper in a club. I moved away as quickly as possible and jumped out of the bed, full of alarm … I found my clothes quickly … and ran out of his room and into my own.”
Allen explained that she didn’t report the incident when it happened because she feared being labelled “hysterical” and a “difficult woman”. After returning to London, the singer consulted her lawyer and signed an affidavit, telling The Guardian “I wanted it on record that I’d been sexually abused by someone I worked with.”
Watch: Lily Allen – Lost My Mind
The singer also said she had to turn down a gig promoted by Radio 1 because of fear that the industry executive would be there with one of his artists who was performing. Allen claims she was subsequently “punished by Radio 1, with no airplay for my next single, Trigger Bang.” The full interview will be published in The Guardian Weekend magazine tomorrow in the UK.
Allen also discusses the alleged assault in her upcoming memoir; My Thoughts Exactly, out September 20th. The interview claims she wanted to name the executive in the book, but did not after being advised by her publisher.
Lily Allen will be touring Australia in 2019. Get all the information here, and check out the video for “The Fear” below.
Watch: Lily Allen – “The Fear”
