Lily Allen reveals she got death threats amid backlash for returning dog that ate children's passports
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Lily Allen, who recently faced a storm of criticism over returning an adopted rescue dog, has taken to her podcast to set the record straight. She also shared her statement on her official Instagram page.
After revealing that the dog had chewed up her children’s passports—an incident that led to a flood of harsh backlash—Allen has now opened up about receiving disturbing death threats and abhorrent messages in response to her candid admission.
Lily Allen says she 'received some really abhorrent messages'
The singer revealed that she received death threats after admitting that her dog had destroyed her children's passports. She stated, "I've received some really abhorrent messages including death threats, some of the most disgusting comments have been all over my social media channels," she added. "I'm ok but it has been a really tough few days."
Allen detailed the situation on her Instagram stories, "We rescued our puppy Mary from a shelter in NY and we loved her very much, BUT she developed pretty severe separation anxiety and would act out in all manner of ways."
She elaborated, "She couldn't be left alone for more than 10 mins, she had 3 long walks a day, 2 by us and 1 with a local dog walker and several other dogs."
Lily explained, "We worked with the shelter that we rescued her from and they referred us to a behavioral specialist and a personal trainer. It was a volunteer from the shelter who would come and dog sit her when we were away, and after many months and much deliberation, everyone was in agreement that our home wasn't the best fit for Mary."
She continued, "The person that she was rehomed with was known to us and that rehoming happened within 24 hours of her being returned. We couldn't meet Mary's needs and her happiness and welfare were central to us making that decision, as difficult as it was."
In another set of Instagram Stories, Allen highlighted her experience with rescue dogs, noting, "I've had rescue dogs pretty consistently throughout my life since I was 4 years old, I'm pretty good at ascertaining a dogs needs. This was before she categorically stated that she has never been accused of any mistreatment incidents in the past. I have never been accused of mistreating an animal."
She ended her statement with a sarcastic remark aimed at PETA, saying, "Also thank you to @peta for adding fuel to the fire. Very responsible of you."
Lily Allen adopted Mary in 2021
During the August 22 episode of her 'Miss Me?' podcast, Lily Allen explained that she and her husband, David Harbour, decided to return their family puppy named Mary to the shelter. Allen shared a photo of a Chihuahua mix puppy that she was considering adopting with David Harbour and their two daughters, 12-year-old Ethel and 11-year-old Marnie. They had adopted Mary from Animal Haven in 2021.
Allen revealed that they returned Mary after the puppy chewed up her passport. “We actually did adopt a dog together already,” Allen said. “But then it ate my passport, so I took it back to the home.”
She added that Mary didn't stop at one passport; she ate all three of their passports. “They had our visas in [there], and I can’t tell you how much it cost to get everything replaced,” Allen said. “It was in COVID, so it was just an absolute logistical nightmare.”
Allen, who has two fathers with her ex-husband Sam Cooper, also mentioned that the passport incident was just the final straw. “Because the father of my children lives in England, I couldn’t get them back to see their dad for, like, four months, five months because this f**king dog had eaten the passports,” she said. “I just couldn’t look at it. I was like: ‘You ruined my life.’” She added that Mary was a badly behaved dog and the passport issue was the last in a series of problems with her.
