Pop star, author, and actor Lily Allen has candidly discussed her decision to send her two daughters to a private school in Brooklyn, despite her own mixed feelings about private education. Speaking on her podcast Miss Me? with co-host Miquita Oliver, Allen opened up about the thought process behind the decision and addressed the complexities of choosing between public and private education.
During the podcast episode, Allen responded to a listener who was grappling with the choice of whether to send her child to a private school. “I think there are great public schools and there are great private schools,” Allen said. “So I don’t think it necessarily is about one or the other, it’s about what is available to you in your area, in which you live.”
Allen, who is mother to 12-year-old Ethel and 11-year-old Marnie, explained that her daughters had attended state schools while the family lived in London. The decision was straightforward at the time because they lived near a “really great” state school, which Oliver, her close friend, had also attended.
However, the family’s move to the United States prompted a reevaluation of their educational options. “When we moved to America they went to public school here until the end of elementary school, and then we switched them to private school,” Allen shared.
She clarified that the change was not due to a lack of faith in the public school system. Instead, it was influenced by the unique circumstances they faced in Brooklyn. “There is a lottery here in Brooklyn, where we live, and the school that was offered to Ethel was a) too far away for us to commute, and b) I didn’t like the school, I didn’t think it was a very good school,” Allen explained.
Given these factors, and with the resources to choose a different path, Allen opted to enroll her daughters in a private school. “That was the option that was afforded to her and we had the resources to do something else, and I made that decision,” she said.
Despite this choice, Allen made it clear that she values public education and would have preferred to send her children to a public school if a suitable one had been available nearby. She emphasized that there are “great and vital” public schools, and if one had been in proximity, her children would be attending it.
During the conversation, Oliver reminded Allen of their own educational experiences, noting that they had both attended a mix of state and private schools. This prompted Oliver to ask, “But I thought you hated private school?”
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“Yes,” Allen replied. “I don’t really like being in and among people that have superiority complexes, and sometimes in private schools you find people who think that they are better than other people, and I don’t work well in that kind of an environment.” She added, “I like to feel part of a community, and I don’t necessarily think that a lot of private schools are very nurturing, in that sense.”
Allen’s reflections on her own schooling were stark. She attended 13 different schools as a child, including Hill House School, where King Charles III also studied as a boy. However, she was expelled from several of them, and she left formal education at the age of 15 without any qualifications.
Earlier this month, Allen expressed regret over her lack of traditional education, revealing that she still feels self-conscious about it. “I’m not educated,” she admitted. “I left school when I was 15 and I don’t even have one GCSE, not one qualification, and I am ashamed of it.”
She went on to disclose that she had once aspired to pursue a career in midwifery or obstetrics, but her lack of qualifications and the prospect of studying alongside much younger students discouraged her. “I was too lazy. And actually too embarrassed,” Allen said.
Despite these regrets, Allen expressed gratitude for the diversity of experiences she has had, meeting people from various walks of life. “It’s important to me, I don’t want to just surround myself by people who have the same sort of income as me and the same sort of house as I do,” she concluded.
