Lily Allen Faces Backlash for the Reason She Returned Her Dog to a Shelter: ‘What Kind of Person Does That?’
Lily Allen is facing some serious backlash online after revealing the reason she decided to return a dog she adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic to a shelter.
The English singer shared “the straw that broke the camel’s back” after mentioning on her Miss Me? podcast that she and her husband, Stranger Things star David Harbour, are planning to adopt another pet.
“We actually did adopt a dog together already, but then it ate my passport, and so I took her back to the home,” Allen, 39, said during a podcast episode that was released on Thursday, Aug. 22. That first dog gobbled up three passports and three visas in total: Allen’s and the paperwork for each of her daughters, who she shares with ex-husband Sam Cooper.
“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,” Allen said, adding that since Cooper lives in England, the loss of her children’s passports meant that she "couldn’t get them back to see their dad for, like, four months, five months.”
“I just couldn’t look at her,” Allen said of the dog. “I was like, ‘You’ve ruined my life.’”
Related: Singer Lily Allen Stirs Up Heated Parenting Debate After 'Hurtful' Comment About Having Children
The “Smile” singer went on to explain that the three passports were not the only thing the dog destroyed. “She was a very badly behaved dog, and I really tried very hard with her,” Allen said. “But it just didn’t work out, and the passports was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak.”
Allen said she and Harbour have already picked out the “very cute” chihuahua mix they plan to adopt next, a detail that made many dog lovers furious as they responded online to the story of Allen’s returned dog.
“The dog is better off,” one person wrote on X, formerly Twitter, of Allen’s returned pet, adding, “But she should not be allowed to adopt again.”
“No way in hell should she be allowed to keep another dog or any pet,” another person agreed.
“What kind of person does that?” one dog lover wanted to know.
“Why on earth would documents like that be lying around for a dog to get at?” one X user wondered as another echoed their question, writing, “Why weren’t the documents filed away in a cabinet or drawer? Who leaves sensitive documents laying around the house?”
Many people shared stories on social media of the various items and pieces of furniture that their own dogs have destroyed before pointing out that they never thought to return the pets they viewed as four-legged members of their families.
“Omg one of my dogs tore apart the front seat of a car! And numerous other valuable things but the thought never crossed my mind,” one X user wrote of the “unthinkable” idea of returning their dog.
“I don’t like people like this,” another X user tweeted. “Poor fur baby.”
