The singer — who has been married to Harbour since 2020 — also said she believes smartphones have “destroyed us as a species,” calling them “horrendous” and “addictive.”
While some couples may keep tabs on one another by having access to a partner’s Instagram accounts, Lily Allen and David Harbour control each other’s phones in a rather unusual way.
In a recent interview with The Sunday Times, the singer revealed that she and her husband have cellphones that are designed for children, and control the apps on each other’s devices.
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Lily Allen Says Her Children ‘Ruined Her Career’: ‘You Can’t Have It All’
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“I now have a kids’ phone called Pinwheel. It has no browsing capability and no social media, but you can still have Uber and Spotify,” Allen, 39, said.
“My husband is the caregiver on it, so he controls what I’m allowed to have as an app on my phone,” she continued. “I’m the controller of his as well. Because they’re made for kids, he’s my parent, and I’m his parent.
“‘What’s your child’s name? David, aged 50,'” Allen joked.
According to Pinwheel’s official website, the parent-controlled phones, help “guide your child from their first phone to independent, responsible use of technology.” The phones have access to a massive app library, but can be managed and unlocked by a parent, or in this case, Allen and Harbour. As the “Smile” singer noted, Pinwheel doesn’t feature any social media apps, and does not have a web browser option.
Allen went on to call smartphones “evil,” saying the “creative side of [her] brain has been ruined” by them.
“I feel like everyone feels the same,” she explained. “I don’t know anyone who could possibly say that the quality of their life is improved by the presence of a smartphone. I think it’s destroyed us as a species. It’s horrendous that they’re designed to be so addictive. Some of us have more addictive personalities than others.”
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Allen and Harbour tied the knot in 2020. The former shares daughters Ethel, 13, and Marne, 11, with ex-husband Sam Cooper. Allen and her children live with Harbour in New York.
During an appearance on the Radio Times Podcast in March, Allen opened up about stepping away from her career to raise her children, saying they “ruined” her chance at pop stardom.
“My children ruined my career. I love them and they complete me, but in terms of pop stardom, they totally ruined it,” Allen said. “I get really annoyed when people say you can have it all because, quite frankly, you can’t.”
While some in Hollywood have chosen their career over their children, Allen said having parents who were “quiet absent” when she was a kid prompted her to be there for hers.
Lily’s father, actor Keith Allen, walked out on her film producer mother, Alison Owen, when she was just four years old.
“I feel like it left some nasty scars that I’m not willing to repeat on mine,” she shared.
