Lily Allen shared that her confession led to an outpouring of hate on social media. Photo / Getty Images
Lily Allen shared that her confession led to an outpouring of hate on social media. Photo / Getty Images
Lily Allen was bombarded with “death threats” and online abuse after she confessed to sending her rescue dog back to the animal shelter.
The 39-year-old pop star opened up about her troubles with former pet pooch Mary - who was adopted from an animal sanctuary in New York in 2021- in an episode of her Miss Me? podcast, revealing she got rid of the dog after it chewed her family’s passports and “ruined” her life, and she’s now revealed the confession led to an outpouring of hate on social media.
In a post on social media platform X, she wrote: “I’ve received some really abhorrent messages, including death threats, some of the most disgusting comments have been all over my social media channels ... I’m okay, but it has been a really tough few days that [have] impacted me and my family.”
Allen went on to insist she tried her best to take care of Mary but she couldn’t be left alone and the family decided their situation wasn’t “best fit” for her.
She added: “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 couldn’t be left alone for more than 10 mins, she had three long walks a day, two by us and one with a local dog walker and several other dogs. We worked with the shelter that we rescued her from and they referred us to a behavioural specialist and a professional 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.”
Allen says the dog chewed her family’s passports and “ruined” her life. Photos / Getty Images, Instagram @its_marys_world
Allen went on to explain Mary was rehomed very quickly and the decision to give her back wasn’t easy. She added: “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.
“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, I have never been accused of mistreating an animal, and I’ve found this whole week very distressing.”
After making the confession about rehoming Mary, Allen was criticised by animals rights charity Peta in a statement posted on X, which read: “YOU laughed when speaking about abandoning Mary and ruined this poor dog’s life.”
“She thought she had a loving forever home before you tossed her out, calling her “that f***ing dog” who ‘ruined my life’. Shame on you. You don’t deserve even the toy dog we sent you.”
Allen responded by accusing Peta of trying to “shame” her by “perpetuating lies”.
People laugh when they talk about painful things all the time, it’s quite normal. I’ve clarified that we didn’t abandon her and that she was rehomed with people we knew almost immediately. Why are you perpetuating lies ? What kind of animal welfare charity tries to shame someone… https://t.co/SLORFjFauN
On her podcast, Allen previously opened up about the situation, saying: “We actually did adopt a dog already, but then it ate my passport and so I took her back to the home.”
“She ate all three of our passports, and they had our visas in [them].
“And I cannot tell you how much money it cost me to get everything replaced, because it was [during the] Covid [pandemic], and so it was just an absolute logistical nightmare.
“And because the father of my children lives in England, I couldn’t take them back to see their dad for like four months, five months, because this f***ing dog had eaten the passports.
“And I just couldn’t look at her. I was like, ‘You’ve ruined my life’ ... Passports weren’t the only thing she ate. 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.”
