I can’t imagine sending my kids to boarding school, says Lily Allen
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Lily Allen has said she “can’t imagine” ever sending her children to boarding school – but added that she does have a nanny.
The pop star attended a number of private schools herself including Bedales, in Hampshire, and Hill House – the same school that the King attended as a boy.
But the 38-year-old – who is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen – has hit out at the “weird concept” of boarding schools and said it is never a decision she would make for her own kids.
It comes after she said last month having children “totally ruined” her music career.
Making her latest comments, she recalled that there was once no-one to pick her up from the bus back from school when she was younger, resulting in her being taken back to Somerset instead.
Reflecting on the “painful” memory, she told the Parenting Hell podcast: “I can’t even fathom the idea of that happening to one of my kids. It just wouldn’t happen.
“My mum had sent somebody to pick me up but she didn’t know that that person was quite irresponsible. I guess it was sort of a little bit of her fault but things like that left a real mark.”
Allen, who now lives in America, insisted she was too hands-on as a parent to ever feel comfortable sending her children away to a school.
She explained: “Listen, I’m not there at the school gates every day – I do have a nanny that helps me out – but I’m there for every sports day, I’m there for every parent’s evening, I’m there to do homework.
“I cook them dinner at least three or four times a week and we all sit around the table and I make a Sunday roast every Sunday without fail.
“So I can’t even really imagine sending them to boarding school, to be honest. Like, I think it’s such a weird concept, boarding school.”
In total, Allen attended 13 schools and was expelled from several. Her musical talents were first spotted when she was 11 years old by Rachel Zeffira – a primary school teacher who would go on to be a soprano and composer.
Last month, discussing how having children affected her career choices, Allen told Radio Times: “My children ruined my career. I love them and they complete me, but in terms of pop stardom, they totally ruined it.
“I get really annoyed when people say you can have it all because, quite frankly, you can’t.
“Some people choose their career over their children and that’s their prerogative, but my parents were quite absent when I was a kid. I feel like it left some nasty scars that I’m not willing to repeat on mine.
“I chose to step back and concentrate on them. I’m glad I’ve done that because I think they’re pretty well-rounded.”
