Lily Allen has said that she was almost sectioned following a row with her now ex-husband Sam Cooper.
Opening up about her mental health struggles in an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine, the singer revealed the row came in 2016 when she thought Sam had started a relationship with someone new, and led to medical staff nearly sedating her.
“It was a build-up of everything and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Lily explained.
“When I feel that the people I trust most have betrayed that, my whole world falls out from underneath me.”
Sectioning, or being kept in hospital under Mental Health Act, is usually for a person with mental health problems’ safety, or the safety of other people.
Lily explained that her boyfriend, MC Meridian Dan, had “really fought” with the medical professionals not to sedate her and take her to hospital under the act.
“They had me pinned down on the floor,” she recalled. “Dan said six nurses tackled me to the floor and they had the needle out and were about to knock me out and sedate me.
“Once the needle goes in, you’re sectioned.”
The interview comes after the release of My Thoughts Exactly, Lily’s new book in which she discusses her life through the lens of topics such as fame, mental health, sex, relationships and family.
Read the full interview with Lily in the new issue of Cosmopolitan, on sale on Wednesday 3 October.
Useful websites and helplines:
- Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393
- Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI - this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill.)
- The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email: help@themix.org.uk