Lily Allen Reacts to Backlash After Giving Up Dog for Eating Passport
Originally appeared on E! Online
Lily Allen is saying f--k you to these allegations.
The "Smile" singer defended herself after being slammed online for sharing she'd returned her adopted puppy after it ate her and her family's passports during the Covid-19 lockdown. And she further shared insight into her reasoning, expressing how, ultimately, the decision came down to the dog's needs.
"I have never been accused of mistreating an animal," Lily wrote on her Instagram Stories Aug. 25, per Today.com. "I've found this whole week very distressing."
"People have been furiously reacting to a deliberately distorted cobbling together of quotes designed to make people angry," she noted. "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."
The 39-year-old, who is married to David Harbour, gave more insight into her decision to rehome their dog.
"We rescued our puppy Mary from a shelter in NY and we loved her very much," Lily explained, "BUT she developed pretty severe separation anxiety and would act out in all manner of ways. She couldn't be left alone for more than 10 minutes."
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"We worked with the shelter that we rescued her from and they referred us to a behavioral specialist and a professional trainer," she continued. "After many months and much deliberation, everyone was in agreement that our home wasn't the best fit for Mary. The person she was rehomed with was known to us and that rehoming happened within 24 hours of her being returned."
Lily, who shares daughters Ethel, 12, and Marie, 11, with ex-husband Sam Cooper, emphasized that "we couldn't meet Mary's needs and her happiness and welfare were central to us making that decision."
Her response comes three days after she first shared that the dog chewed up her passport, along with those of her daughters'.
"It ate my passport and so I took her back to the home," Lily said with a chuckle on the Aug. 22 episode of her podcast Miss Me?. "She ate all three of our passports and they had our visas in them. 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 father of my children lives in England," she continued. "I couldn't get them back to see their dad for four or five months because this f--king dog had eaten the passports. I just couldn't look at her. I was like, 'You've ruined my life.'"
Lily also explained that this wasn't the first time she'd had problems with the pup.
"Passports weren't the only thing she ate," she recalled. "She was a very badly behaved dog and I really 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."
That said, she did express interest in adding another furry family member—and noted it may happen sooner than later.
"We may be getting a new pupping a the next couple of weeks," she revealed on the podcast. "A little chihuahua mix. It's very cute."
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