Singer Lulu has has opened up about her battle with alcohol and confessed she was struggling for years but wanted to keep the addiction private until she understood it more
Lulu has admitted she is an alcoholic.
The Shout! singer and Eurovision winner has opened up about her alcohol addiction for the first time. She said she was a “secret drinker” and wanted to keep it private until she had the “language to understand it”.
She felt “terrified” of ending up like her late dad Eddie, who she revealed was once “dragged away by the police”. The pop star explained how she wanted to be “the best Lulu” at all times, which was heightened as she shot to fame.
Despite all of her success, Lulu was struggling for years and turned to memoirs and self help books to try to understand her battle. She said her alcoholism got worse as she got older, particularly when her son Jordan Frieda, 48, left home.
“For me, it had been controllable until I got into my sixties,” Lulu told The Times. “After I became menopausal, with both my parents gone, the empty nest, looking around and seeing all the young kids in the music industry, I became more and more reliant on it and so it just got worse.”
She added: “For many years, and I can’t say how many, I had not been happy with the way I felt, not at all happy and [yet] unable to ask for help.” Lulu devastatingly shared scarring childhood memories of domestic violence between her parents.
“It’s a family illness. The gene is there,” she said. Lulu decided to keep quiet about what she witnessed at home as she feared her parents would be seen as “bad people”.
Lulu believes they were “damaged” but still carry shame about their actions. Lulu said her alcoholism was “the culmination of a life spent trying to suppress feelings,” and maintaining her public image.
However, Lulu says she has now “never been happier in life” after seeking help for her health issue. “I finally understood it’s an illness that messes with everything,” she said.
“So I know it sounds perverse, but I’m glad I’m an alcoholic and that I’m in recovery.” She says she is now in a “brighter” world with her cockapoo in central London.
In May, Lulu opened up about mental health as she launched her own charity, Lulu’s Mental Health Trust. She told the Mirror: “The process of writing my memoir opened my eyes to the role that mental health has played in my life. Whether that’s my own mental health, my loved ones, colleagues, whatever.
“When I was first coming into the industry we didn’t talk about it! But it’s so important, and I want to give back. People will understand what I mean when they read the book I think… it’s coming soon.”
Lulu has been married twice, having wed Maurice Gibb from 1969 to 1973 and John Frieda from 1977 to 1991. She shot to fame at the age of 15 with her version of the Isley Brothers’ song Shout – credited to Lulu & the Luvvers.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
