Lily Allen has revealed new details about the early days of her friendship with James Corden.
In the latest episode of her podcast, “Miss Me?,” the singer, 39, labeled the former “Late Late Show” host, 45, as once being “flirtatious” and a “beg friend.”
“Beg friends,” British slang which translates to something along the lines of “hangers-on,” “sycophants,” or, more plainly, people who “kiss arse,” were the subject of the podcast episode, aptly titled, “Listen B—-! Beggies Can’t Be Losers.”
Allen co-hosts the BBC Sounds-produced pod with Miquita Oliver, 40, a British TV presenter, radio personality and Allen’s friend since childhood.
Oliver and Allen both met Corden back in 2008.
“Yeah, James Corden was a bit of a beg friend for me,” Allen said in the new episode, which dropped Monday, July 29, while answering a listener’s question if she’d ever had any beg friends that were “actually famous.”
Recalling that the “Prom” actor was a guest on her short-lived 2008 talk show “Lily Allen and Friends,” the “Smile” singer said that “[James] was very flirtatious with me, and we sort of made friends. I introduced him to a group of my friends.”
“I’d say if I’ve ever had a famous beggy friend it was James Corden, back in the day,” she continued.
“He’s not begging me anymore,” she quipped. “I’m not begging him either. I can’t do anything for him now. He’s good.”
Clarifying her own definition of “beg friend,” Allen said, “It’s kind of a latching on, jumping onto s—. You can smell it a mile off.”
Or, put another way, someone who’s desperate and can’t take a hint.
“You know when someone contacts you, and then you don’t respond to that thing, and then a couple days later they’ll send you a message? Like, ‘Just following up on this.’ It’s like, I know. That’s why I ignored you, and when you keep following up, that’s the begging,” she explained.
But Allen and Oliver both admitted that they themselves have been guilty of being beg friends in the past.
Allen even said that she “would ‘beg friend’ Charli xcx.” In fact, she admitted, “I have been ‘beg-friending’ Charli xcx.”
The “F— You” performer also spoke about falling out with a former collaborator, whom she worked with on her 2014 album “Sheezus,” and how their relationship now reminds her a bit of “beg-friendy” relationships.
“We were working together, but we were also close friends, and then it sort of coincided with the breakdown of my marriage,” Allen said.
Allen was married to builder and decorator Sam Cooper from 2011 to 2018 and had two daughters, Ethel and Marnie. Allen went on to marry actor David Harbour, 49, in 2020. The pair met while Harbour was filming “Black Widow” in 2019.
“That person was quite happy to sort of sit and point the finger at me, and watch my demise, and point and laugh about what a downward spiral I was on,” she recounted.
“And then recently, since this podcast has been going quite well, I’ve heard from several people that they have been asking, ‘How’s Lily? I really miss her. It’d be really great if we could get back in touch again, and I really regret what happened.’”
Allen clarified that the individual hasn’t “been beggy to me,” but added that “the way that person’s gone about it, I’m just not into it. I don’t need it. I’m really happy. I’ve got a great life. I’ve got great friends. I don’t need that energy,” she said.