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Louise Thomas
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Lily Allen has opened up about another unconventional aspect of her relationship with her husband, David Harbour.
In a recent episode of her Miss Me? podcast, which Allen co-hosts with Miquita Oliver, the pair discussed how the British singer handles long periods of time away from her husband. Allen specifically mentioned that the Stranger Things actor is not always around due to his filming schedule, especially as he’s currently away filming the fifth and final season of the Netflix series.
The couple has been married for four years after meeting on the exclusive dating app, Raya. Despite being married for so long, the two still manage to dedicate time to each other. “We flirt, we send, like, flirty messages,” Allen shared on the podcast.
“Things are good, actually, with me and my husband,” she added. “We’re pretty open and flirty, and things are pretty good.”
Oliver then chimed in to address the long-distance aspect of their relationship. “You have a relationship that not all people will have, which is you’re away from each other quite a lot, working,” she said. “David’s away filming quite a lot, so I suppose all that kind of flirtiness through texting is important to keep yourselves connected in that way.”
Allen pointed out how not being in constant communication with each other has actually had a positive impact on their relationship. “I don’t know, actually, if it’s good,” the singer said. “I feel like absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
“We do FaceTime a lot and sometimes it feels like it gets a little bit too much and then we’ll have, like, a couple of days, a few days, not talking at all and it’s great,” she added.
Still, the “Smile” singer admitted that the first person she turns to with news or for advice is her husband, no matter what may be going on in their work-lives. “If anything important comes up, or I need some advice on something, he’s the first person,” Allen continued. “He’s my partner, y’know?”
This isn’t the first time the 39-year-old musician has spoken about her relationship with Harbour. In an interview withThe Sunday Times last May, Allen explained that she and her husband control what apps they can each have on their phones. According to Allen, this is because she uses a phone meant for children that requires a parent to be linked to it.
“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,” she told the outlet about her phone. “My husband is the caregiver on it, so he controls what I’m allowed to have as an app on my phone. I’m the controller of his as well.”
Because the phone is meant for parents to control their children’s screen-time, she joked about Harbour technically needing to be listed on the phone as her “parent” and vice-versa for him. “Because they’re made for kids, he’s [listed as] my parent and I’m his parent.‘ What’s your child’s name? David, aged 50,’” she said.
She also noted how limiting her phone usage has had positively impacted her mental health.
“The creative side of my brain has been ruined by smartphones. I feel like everyone feels the same,” Allen said. “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. It’s evil.”
