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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Maira Butt

Lily Allen returned adopted dog after it ate her kids’ passports

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Louise Thomas

Louise Thomas

Editor

Lily Allen took her adopted dog back to the animal shelter after it ate her children’s passports.

The 39-year-old explained that her kids were unable to see their father for months due to the fiasco, as she said the pooch had “ruined my life”.

“We actually did adopt a dog already, but then it ate my passport and so I took her back to the home,” she told her friend, presenter Steve Jones, on the Miss Me? podcast that she typically hosts with Miquita Oliver.

Although she did not mention which dog it was specifically, the Daily Mail reported the pet was a puppy called Mary that Allen adopted from a charity based in New York City in 2021.

Mary had her own Instagram page set up later that year, but posts abruptly stopped within a week or two.

“She ate all three of our passports and they had our visas in,” Allen recalled. “And I cannot tell you how much money it cost me to get everything replaced, because it was in Covid and so it was just an absolute logistical nightmare.”

The “Smile” singer, who lives in New York with her children and husband, Stranger Things actor David Harbour, was unable to travel to England, where her ex-husband and father of her two children, Sam Cooper lives, due to the incident.

“And because the father of my children lives in England, I couldn’t take them back to see their dad for like four months, five months, because this f***ing dog had eaten the passports,” she continued.

The musician recalled the resentment she felt looking at the animal after the incident, stating: “I just couldn’t look at her. I was like, you’ve ruined my life.”

Allen said the dog had ‘ruined’ her life
Allen said the dog had ‘ruined’ her life (Getty Images)

Allen said that it was not only the passport incident that led to her decision to return the dog, explaining that the animal behaved poorly in general.

“Passports weren’t the only thing she ate, she was a very badly behaved dog and I really tried very hard with her, but it just didn’t work out and the passports were the straw that broke the camel’s back so to speak,” she said.

The charity where Allen had adopted the dog, Animal Haven, is the same shelter where Jon Stewart adopted his family dog, who died earlier this year.

The talk show host explained that his children had raised money for the charity through a bake sale before staff members introduced them to a dog that they then went on to adopt and keep until its death earlier this year.

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