Lily Allen reveals details of sexual assault by record industry executive

'I felt betrayed. I felt shame. I felt anger. I felt confused'

(IBL/REX)

Lily Allen has given her account of being sexually assaulted by a record industry executive while she slept.

Although the 33-year-old musician has previously discussed being abused by a powerful industry figure, this is the first time she’s shared details of the alleged assault, stating that the incident occurred after she had fallen asleep in his hotel bed.

In an interview with Guardian Weekend magazine, Allen said she wanted to name the man in her memoir My Thoughts Exactly, set to be published later this month, but was warned off doing so after legal advice from her publisher.

Her book details that the man had left her to sleep in his hotel room after she had got ”smashed” at a party. She alleges: “I woke up at 5am because I could feel someone next to me pressing their naked body against my back. I was naked, too. I could feel someone trying to put their penis inside my vagina and slapping my arse as if I were a stripper in a club.”

“I moved away as quickly as possible and jumped out of the bed, full of alarm... I found my clothes quickly... and ran out of his room and into my own.”

Allen writes that she initially blamed herself for the assault because she had been drinking and now feels frustrated that she did not confront or report the man about the alleged assault, continuing to work with him instead. She adds that she felt silenced because he had more power and money than her, fearing she would be labelled “hysterical” and a “difficult woman”.

"I expected him not to take advantage of my weakness,” she writes. “I felt betrayed. I felt shame. I felt anger. I felt confused.” She also writes that she consulted a lawyer on the matter and signed an affidavit documenting her recollection of the incident, as "I wanted it on record that I'd been sexually abused by someone I work with".

Describing the music industry as “rife” with abuse, the Brit Award winner warns that, despite the advancements of the #MeToo movement, the industry has still remained silent on the scale of the issue.

Allen says that the industry trades in “a potent mix of sex, youth and availability”, creating a structure that “allows and sometimes even endorses toxic behaviour by men towards women”.

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