I'm not good at many things. But I really like songwriting, and I get a good reaction from it. There's not much that I do that causes a good reaction, so it feels like if I want to have good things happen, then I should do the things I'm good at. I mean, in all seriousness, I left school at 15. I'm unqualified to do anything else.
— Lily Allen
I'm always going to have an addictive personality.
I was really rubbish at school.
I had quite a turbulent upbringing. It was middle class, and everything was quite comfortable, but everyone was mental.
I don't know how much money I've made, don't know how many albums I've sold.
Everyone thinks Lily Allen is this brash, bold, funny person. It was all just a bit of a facade and bravado.
I had my mid-life crisis at 29. I've got my thirties and forties into the back end of my twenties.
I grew up in celebrity world, so I know what famous people are like, and I've never looked up to them in that way.
My success was pretty overnight.
I like to be able to get up and go and buy a pint of milk without bumping into 20 people I know.
I think I'm like Marmite; you either love me or you hate me.
I've always listened to music, since I was really, really young.
When a music teacher that I had at school was taken ill and we had a variety show and I had to fill in - that's when I realized I had a voice.
I never go out to be photographed, never. I go to events because they're fun.
I don't care what people think of me now, so why would I care when I'm dead?
I just felt like I couldn't deal with the everyday responsibilities of life, paying bills and all of that. I'm terrible at all of that. So I knew I had to make enough money to pay someone else to deal with all of that.
Because of piracy there has been a massive downturn in people buying music, which makes it more difficult for artists to make money from the sale of records.
My grandad was a submariner; my mum's dad was in the navy.
I'm not scared of anything.
The world is run on fear and shame. And I don't feel like we can begin to overcome these things until we speak about them openly and stop being scared of what happens as a result.
I think one of my big struggles with being famous in my early 20s was that there was a constant running commentary telling me who I was.
My whole childhood, I'd been dreaming of this two-point-four children, living in the country - everything was just going to fall into place, and I'd be this perfect mum. And it didn't happen. I was very shocked and disappointed.
I was guilty of appropriating when I did a video called 'Hard Out Here.' I was guilty of assuming that there was a one-size-fits-all where feminism is concerned.
A lot of my honesty, and wanting to be as authentic as possible, came from coming out of bands like S Club 7 - things that felt glossy, you know? And with the rise of social media, there was an initial backlash against that glossiness, too. And then, I don't know, somehow it managed to get lost again.
I think, ever since I started doing well commercially, it's always been like, 'Oh, well, you're only where you are because of your dad, and it must be because of Mark Ronson and Greg Kurstin that you do well.' It's just everyone apart from me is responsible for the songs that I've written selling millions around the world.
I hang out with models, the biggest pop stars and, you know, really and honestly, I hate saying this, but none of them are achieving those body shapes by being healthy.
I think the whole, like, cultural diversity and the arty side of London is really, really great. And how it's so historic as well.
I studied voice when I was at school, and I was in the chamber choir, and I studied music theory as well, so I guess a lot of it came from being taught at school.
I think of myself as quite a confused kind of person, because I think there's so many great things about the world, but there are so many awful things too. I feel very guilty a lot of the time about enjoying my life so much when there are people living in such misery.
I think as long as you're not being malicious and you're not hurting people then you should not be ashamed of what you do.
I don't see myself as a role model; people should look to mothers and sisters as role models.
I wasn't into anything at school. I used to get really embarrassed. I used to get asked to do performing things, and I'd go to all the rehearsals, and then I'd pretend to be ill on the day I had to actually perform. I was very unhappy at school.
I don't really see how any song can not feel contrived if it isn't honest, and how could I write honest songs if I don't write about stuff going on in my life and how I'm feeling?
I like to travel. I come from a travelling family.
I used to be really envious of those kids who could do their homework and bring it in on time and were organised.
If you ask most people, 'Who's Lily Allen?,' they'll say, 'That girl who's in the papers all the time.' Not that girl who wrote songs.
All I know is that Conservatives aren't interested in helping anybody but themselves get richer.
With the first two albums and with my social media, I've always been very open about who I am.
In an ideal world, the 'Daily Mail' would write about what a brilliant mother I am. But it's not going to happen.
Role models should be people that you know. Like your mum.
As a woman and as a mother, as a young mother, I felt guilty about being successful.
I love MySpace; it's done an amazing job for me and it's been insane over the past couple of weeks, but I'm not a poster girl for them.
I'm opinionated, but I'm not a vindictive person and I never say anything unprovoked, either.
Yeah, I was a florist. I went to floristry school.
You have to be in love with yourself before anyone else can fall in love with you; to be happy with yourself.
Sometimes I wish I was just a girl in an indie band. I could dance around on stage and it wouldn't be so much about me.
I refuse to put make-up on just because the paparazzi are on my doorstep. I find it morally wrong.
But Dad and I are the only father-and-daughter acts who have both had No. 1 songs in England.
I'm just not a private person. It's not like I do things because I want things to be public; it's just that's my way of expressing myself, and I happen to be very famous.
