Lily Allen has finally apologised to Edith Bowman for branding her a ‘trollop’ in a fairly spectacular piece of noughties internet history.
The Smile singer, 41, admitted there was ‘absolutely no f***ing reason’ for taking aim at the Scottish radio and TV presenter, 52, in a MySpace post way back in 2006.
Yes, MySpace. This particular celebrity feud has been ageing for two decades.
Asked by Perfect Magazine who she would apologise to if she could pick one person, Lily immediately dredged up her long-forgotten swipe at Edith.
‘I called Edith Bowman a trollop in one of my very early MySpace posts, for absolutely no f***ing reason, and I apologise,’ she confessed.
For anyone fortunate enough not to have had their teenage thoughts permanently preserved on the internet, Lily’s original post was rather more detailed.
She complained about being ‘rudely awoken’ by Edith on the radio before calling her a ‘trollop’ and mocking the presenter for apparently being ‘BESTEST friends’ with anyone in a band – preferably, she joked, one wearing ‘skinny jeans and stripey cardigans’.
The singer also took issue with Edith’s enthusiasm for The Magic Numbers, ending her rant with an exasperated ‘AGAIN’.
Unfortunately for Lily, the internet may have been younger in 2006, but it was already perfectly capable of ensuring celebrities eventually heard what had been written about them.
And Edith did.
She previously recalled confronting Lily face-to-face when she later had to interview the singer at T in the Park, by which point her unlikely online nemesis had scored a number one single.
‘When Lily Allen was just coming out, she was not very nice and put something on MySpace about me and then got to number one,’ Edith said.
‘I remember I had to interview her. It was raining and she was in a poncho and prom dress and trainers. I went up and said, “Hello, what’s the problem? What have I done to offend you?”’
According to Edith, Lily admitted she had been listening to Radio 1 every day hoping the DJ would play her music and had simply ‘lashed out’ when it didn’t happen.
She added that Lily apologised at the time, explaining: ‘I’m the type of person who speaks before I think.’
Two decades later, it seems the apology is now officially on the record too.
And Lily’s retrospective tour of her own behaviour didn’t end with MySpace.
Elsewhere in the interview, the singer offered a typically candid assessment of what it is like to date her, admitting she requires rather a lot of reassurance from a partner.
Lily has been romantically linked to Jonah Freud, 29, for at least eight months, although she stopped short of naming him while discussing her current relationship.
Jonah is the son of PR executive Matthew Freud and his ex-wife Caroline Hutton, and the nephew of late artist Lucian Freud.
He and Lily were seen kissing at her celebrity-packed Christmas party at Stringfellow’s in London in December and have since been spotted together on dates and holidays.
The relationship marks Lily’s first serious romance since the collapse of her four-year marriage to Stranger Things actor David Harbour.
And while she insisted life has become decidedly less dramatic now she is no longer ‘going out and getting wasted’, she admitted that romance can bring out a needier side of her.
‘I’m high maintenance in a relationship,’ Lily said. ‘I’m like “Do you love me?” “Are you gonna leave me?” “I’m ugly, aren’t I?” I need a lot of validation.’
The singer is currently taking West End Girl around Europe and the US, with the unusual production staged more like a play than a conventional concert and featuring updated costumes and set pieces.
The acclaimed album drew heavily on the breakdown of Lily’s marriage to Harbour, although she has repeatedly stressed that its 14 tracks combine reality with fiction and should not be treated as ‘gospel’.
Harbour recently addressed the record himself, describing the experience of hearing it as ‘weird’.
Speaking to Variety, the actor said he believed every artist had the right to use their experiences to make art and respected Lily for doing so, but declined to discuss the details of their marriage.
He added that while Lily had channelled ‘her experience’ into the record, ‘it wasn’t my experience’.
For Lily, meanwhile, life appears to have entered a rather calmer chapter – albeit one that still occasionally involves 20-year-old MySpace insults resurfacing.
Perhaps ‘drama-free’ is relative.
