Lily Allen

“I don't see myself as a role model; people should look to mothers and sisters as role models.”

“I think one of my big struggles with being famous in my early 20s was that there was a constant running commentary telling me who I was.”

“Yeah, I was a florist. I went to floristry school.”

“I'm not good at many things. But I really like songwriting, and I get a good reaction from it. There's not much that I do that causes a good reaction, so it feels like if I want to have good things happen, then I should do the things I'm good at. I mean, in all seriousness, I left school at 15. I'm unqualified to do anything else.”

“Sometimes I wish I was just a girl in an indie band. I could dance around on stage and it wouldn't be so much about me.”

“Everyone thinks Lily Allen is this brash, bold, funny person. It was all just a bit of a facade and bravado.”

“I've always listened to music, since I was really, really young.”

“I wasn't into anything at school. I used to get really embarrassed. I used to get asked to do performing things, and I'd go to all the rehearsals, and then I'd pretend to be ill on the day I had to actually perform. I was very unhappy at school.”

“When a music teacher that I had at school was taken ill and we had a variety show and I had to fill in - that's when I realized I had a voice.”

“I'm opinionated, but I'm not a vindictive person and I never say anything unprovoked, either.”

“I refuse to put make-up on just because the paparazzi are on my doorstep. I find it morally wrong.”