Lily Allen draws backlash for returning her adopted dog because it ate her family's passports
English singer-songwriter Lily Allen received online backlash after admitting that she brought Mary, her adopted rescue puppy in 2021, back to the animal shelter when she found out it messed with her family’s passports with visas in it.
Aired in the podcast Miss Me? on Thursday, Aug. 22, Welsh presenter Steve Jones asked host Allen, 39, if she and her husband David Harbour are ready for a dog as it was one “hell of a commitment.”
“We actually did adopt a dog together already, but then it ate my passport, and so I took her back to the home,” Allen said. “And I cannot tell you how much money it cost me to get everything replaced because it was [during] COVID.”
The Smile singer expressed how it was an “absolute logistical nightmare” after the pup munched on her and her children’s—Ethel, 12, and Marnie, 11—passports and visas, which hindered her from bringing the kids to see her ex-husband Sam Cooper in England.
“I couldn’t take them back to see their dad for like four months… five months, because this f****** dog had eaten the passports,” Allen explained.
She further revealed that things did not work out well between her family and Mary as the pup turned out to be a “very badly behaved dog” which she tried hard to work with.
“I just couldn’t look at her. I was like, ‘You’ve ruined my life,’” the artist added.
Allen now shares her plans to bring a new Chihuahua mix as an addition to her family. Although her kids are excited to name this dog Jude Bellingham, social media users are angered about the news, saying that she was “better off without a dog.”
Some internet users also called her out for being “cruel and inhumane” for blaming the puppy’s “bad behavior” instead of her responsibility to train it.
"Lily Allen is all that's wrong with the world—got a puppy, used it for likes on Instagram and then sent it back to the home because it chewed up her family passports that she left within its reach. Hopefully this pup found someone who deserves her," an X user wrote.