Lily Allen breaks silence after coming under fire for giving dog back to shelter for eating her passport
Lily Allen has released a statement on social media after receiving criticism for her decision to re-home her dog after it ate her passport.
The pop star, 39, opened up about the situation on her podcast, Miss Me?, which she hosts with her friend and co-presenter Miquita Oliver.
Earlier this week, she revealed that she and her husband, Stranger Things' David Harbour, had adopted the puppy in New York, where they live with her children, Ethel, 12, and Marine, 11.
However, Allen said she ended up taking the dog 'back to the home' after eating her and her two daughter's passports.
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"She ate all 3 of our passports, and they had our visas in. And I cannot tell you how much money it cost me to get everything replaced because it was in Covid. And so it was just an absolute logistical nightmare.” the 'Smile' singer said.
According to Allen, this meant her daughters couldn't see their father Sam Cooper, who lives in England, for months because the 'f***ing dog had eaten the passports'.
She added: "I just couldn't look at her. I was like, 'You've ruined my life'."
Her admission, however, ended up receiving huge amounts of backlash as many social media users were quick to call her out - with one person calling her an 'irresponsible pet owner'.
Even PETA took it upon themselves to send Allen a gift in response to her revealing her plans to possibly adopt another dog.
And now, the musician has responded herself to the criticism on her Instagram.
She said: "We tried very hard and for a very long time but the passports were the straw that broke the camels back.
"This is the part of the podcast that the tabloids decided not to quote in their articles about me 'dumping my puppy'."
The quote in question is from the podcast episode where Allen revealed that they'd tried 'very hard' to train her before deciding to re-home her, adding: "She was a very badly behaved dog and I tried very hard with her but it just didn’t work out and the passports were the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak.”
Allen continued to say in her post: "People have been furiously reacting to a deliberately distorted cobbling together of quotes designed to make people angry and as a result, I've received some really abhorrent messages including death threats.
"Some of the most disgusting comments have been all over my social media channels, and I'm really not surprised because this is exactly what those articles are designed to do.
"I'm ok but it has been a really tough few days that has impacted me and my family."
Allen also confirmed that the dog was Mary and said that she would often act out due to 'severe separation anxiety', and she couldn't be left alone for more than '10 minutes' a day.
"We worked with the shelter we rescued her from and they referred us to a behavioural specialist and a professional trainer.
"After many months and much deliberation everyone was in agreement that our home wasn't the best fit for Mary. The person that she was rehomed with known to us and that rehoming happened within 24 hours of her being returned.
"We couldn't meet Mary's needs and her happiness and welfare were central to us making that decision, as difficult as it was."
She finished by saying: "Please stop acting on clickbait articles when you haven't done your due diligence.
"It's all just so toxic and I know we can do better."
Topics: Lily Allen, Celebrity, Entertainment
Joe Yates