Lily Allen has recalled an uncomfortable interview with James Corden, in which he “came onto” her.
The singer admitted she felt like she had to respond to his advances or avoid criticism when he was a guest on her BBC Three chat show ‘Lily And Friends’ in 2008.
While playing a game to see if they were compatible with one another, the pair seemed to be mutually flirting, but Lily has now stated this wasn’t the case.
When one fan accused her of being “horny for” James amid an on-going row with Piers Morgan and tweeted a clip of the interview, she hit back.
“No, I wasn’t horny for James cordon either,” she tweeted. “He came on to me in front of a studio audience, if I’d have shut him down, I would have been labeled cold or up myself or snobbish.”
James previously admitted he wanted more than just friendship with Lily when he addressed the interview in his 2011 autobiography.
He admitted to “openly and blatently flirting” with her, saying: “I hadn’t seen Lily since when I got a call asking if I’d go on her chatshow to promote the new series of ‘Gavin & Stacey’. When I spoke to the researcher beforehand he said the idea for the show was to find out how compatible Lily and I would be.”
He continued: “Given where I was at the time, with my ego starting to spiral out of control, a broken heart trying to nurse itself with empty one-night stands and a complete lack of understanding of my position in the world, this was right up my street. I made it my aim to make Lily mine.
“I guess I went out with Lily four or five times in total after that - and not once was it a proper date. It always seemed to involve other people and not just the two of us,” he said. “I guess we were friends but, for my part, I definitely wanted more than that. The last time I went to her place was when the reality dawned on me.
“It was Lily, me and a couple of her friends chatting and drinking. Eventually, Lily let out a yawn, looked at me and said, ‘I’m going to bed now, what about you?’ My heart stopped. This was it. After all this time, all the false dawns. So she walked up the stairs with me padding behind, my mouth dry, my stomach churning, my hands sweating - I was all kinds of sexy. Play it cool, I told myself. She is just a girl, just a girl.”
He then admitted to realising it was “all in his mind”, adding: “I’m glad that’s all it was. I like Lily very much and know if push came to shove that night, I’d have been awful in bed. I would’ve been so nervous that nothing - and I do mean nothing - would’ve happened. So I want to thank Lily for sparing a lovesick fool that kind of embarrassment.”