Lily Allen says the tradwife life once appealed to her. What changed?
The singer says her album and tour helped her feel more independent after her split from David Harbour, as she launches a new Lovehoney collection.
Lily Allen says the tradwife lifestyle once appealed to her, but she no longer wants someone else to take care of her. In an interview with The Times published on October 20, she linked that shift to supporting her two children and the success of her album and tour, Billboard reported.
“I don’t think it does now,” Allen said of the lifestyle, according to Billboard. “There’s this myth someone’s going to pick you up and make everything OK. I haven’t seen much evidence of it.”
What Lily Allen said about being a tradwife
Allen told The Times that, during her marriages to Sam Cooper and David Harbour, she put a priority on staying home and cooking for the household, Billboard reported. She said the tradwife movement “appealed to me in the past.” The term generally describes a married woman who embraces traditional roles such as staying at home to care for a family.
Her view of herself changed after her breakup from Harbour, which she chronicled on her 2025 album West End Girl, according to Billboard. “The album and tour having been a success has given me a sense of agency and accomplishment,” Allen said. She described herself as “a single mum supporting two teenagers on my own” and added: “I don’t need to be taken care of any more.”
Allen also said she still has a part of her that wants a happy ending, but is “starting to see through that.” Her comments describe her own experience; she did not present her change of heart as a judgment on how other women choose to live.
How West End Girl connects to her Lovehoney collection
Allen has also released a six-piece sex-toy collection with Lovehoney, NME reported. She selected the items while on her West End Girl tour earlier in 2026. Among them is a pale-blue polka-dot butt plug resembling an item referenced on the album and later turned into a limited-edition USB release.
“We thought it would be fun to make it properly and launch it almost a year to the day since we released West End Girl,” Allen said, according to NME. She said toys had helped her understand what she likes and express what she wants in relationships; she hoped the collection would help others feel similarly.
Billboard reported that Allen also connected the collection to speaking openly about desire and pleasure. “If me speaking about it can help women feel more confident talking about desire and pleasure, then that can only be a good thing,” she told The Times.
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Sources and context
- Lily Allen Says Being a Tradwife ‘Appealed to Me in the Past’Billboard
- Lily Allen's polka dot butt plug is now for sale in her new line of sex toysNME
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.