Lily Allen said being forced to sell her dream home in the Cotswolds to pay a tax bill was ‘soul-destroying’.
Now, I can disclose that the pop star has lifted her spirits by splashing out on a new home in this country.
Lily, 39, has bought a property in Notting Hill, where she grew up.
‘She’s a west London girl and is loving being back,’ a family friend tells me. ‘Her new place is just a ten-minute walk from her mum’s home and they are very close.’
The Smile singer’s mother is Alison Owen, a film producer who made the recent Amy Winehouse biopic Back To Black.
Lily, who has two children with her ex-husband Sam Cooper, sold her 17th-century home in Cranham, Gloucestershire, for £4.2 million in 2016 after being sued by an ex-tour manager for more than £100,000.
‘I had my house of dreams.’ she later reminisced. ‘I did it up so nice, it was my life project, the place where I was going to raise my children.’
She added: ‘I’m a firm believer in paying tax. But I got sued. I had to pay him off, with the money I’d put aside for my tax. I tried to work out a deal with HMRC to pay them back in instalments, but they said no. It was absolutely soul-destroying, and a real lesson in life.’
Lily Allen said being forced to sell her dream home in the Cotswolds to pay a tax bill was ‘soul-destroying’
Lily Allen’s mansion in the Cotswolds which she was forced to sell to pay a tax bill
Lily, 39, has bought a property in Notting Hill, where she grew up
The star married Stranger Things actor David Harbour, 49, in 2020 and the couple own a home in Brooklyn, New York.
Let’s hope she has a happier experience at her new home than she did at her flat in north-west London.
In 2017, a row between her and her tenants went public after she vented her irritation on social media.
The musician posted a message to her followers online saying she was, in effect, homeless because her tenants, an Italian couple, were refusing to leave.
Lily Allen and her mother Alison Owen (right), a film producer who made the recent Amy Winehouse biopic Back To Black
Lily Allen pictured on her wedding day to Stranger Things actor David Harbour, 49
She claimed that she was powerless to take back her flat because they were protected by diplomatic immunity.
But when contacted at the flat, the Italian couple said they could not understand the message.
Maria Bilotta, a photographer, said: ‘I’m really astonished. I don’t know why she did this. We are diplomats. But I don’t want to make trouble to our embassy. This is so stupid. I cannot believe this.’
