CHARLOTTE GRIFFITHS: The REAL reason troubled Lily Allen screamed at her children and why she now says she’s ‘bored of men’ – as her husband is 800 miles away…

Lily Allen is the poster child for late 1990s hedonism and is known for her brash indiscretions, especially when it comes to her sex life and past addictions to drugs and alcohol. And the pop star turned actor is now dropping hints that there are problems in her family life.

“I’m having a bit of a hard time at the moment,” she recently admitted on the Miss Me? she presents the podcast together with her best friend, presenter Miquita Oliver. “But I’m trying to keep going.”

In a previous episode, she told how her two daughters Ethel, 13, and Marnie, 11, found themselves in the line of fire.

‘I exploded and shouted at the kids. I thought, ‘I can’t handle this right now; I’m going through so much, I need you two to behave.”

She then explained to them, “We’re all going through hard things right now, so I apologize, and I’m sorry.”

For some, a possible clue to the source of her turmoil came when Lily, who is married to Stranger Things star David Harbour, announced: ‘I’m so tired of men.’

In another segment, she described Aaron Batterham, her mother Alison’s boyfriend, as a “pillar” and “the most important male person in my life who is amazing and supportive.” So there is no mention of David.

Friends of the 39-year-old singer are concerned about her well-being. They say she’s “struggling,” and someone adds, “I hope everything goes well between her and David.”

The couple have been here before, when rumors of a split surfaced last year, not helped by Lily’s revelation that she sometimes doesn’t text David for days. But the couple did a good job of dispelling the banter by appearing in the front row of a basketball game last November, smiling and socializing.

The source explains: ‘It was widely reported that Lily and David had been separated for a while, but they did their best to quash those rumors. And we enjoyed a good year together.’

But since filming of Netflix’s new series Stranger Things began in the summer, David, 49, has been spending much of his time on location in Atlanta, Georgia – some 800 miles from their family home in New York.

In Thursday’s podcast episode, Lily said she plans to spend Christmas in Africa with Miquita, who is a regular visitor to Kenya’s fashionable island resort Lamu. But she made no mention of David joining her.

It was a whirlwind courtship. After meeting on celebrity dating app Raya in 2019, they hunkered down together during the pandemic lockdown in Lily’s north-west London flat, and married in 2020 at Graceland Chapel in Las Vegas. The low-key ceremony was led by an Elvis impersonator. and the wedding breakfast was at a hamburger joint.

Sharing snaps on Instagram at the time, David playfully noted, “In a ceremony presided over by the King himself, the people’s princess united with her devoted, humble yet generous credit card holder.”

Lily’s two daughters, both from her first marriage to builder Sam Cooper, were their only witnesses.

Lily on her podcast earlier this month without her wedding ring

Lily is supporting an event for Addiction Awareness Week earlier this month

She and David settled in with the girls in a beautiful brownstone townhouse in Brooklyn, and she has since spoken fondly of how much she has enjoyed life away from the tabloid attention that her wild life as a pop star brought with it.

She was no longer paparazzi fodder, pictured being carried away by her bouncers from festivals, awards ceremonies and Notting Hill Carnival – once, infamously, after taking the horse tranquilizer ketamine. In New York, as a self-proclaimed stay-at-home mom, she started cooking and became known for her Sunday roasts.

She has proudly never missed a school run and noted that few parents at the school gates knew who she was, although they always recognized David.

The couple has undoubtedly supported each other through their journey out of addiction. “Sobriety is a cornerstone of their relationship,” the source said. Lily battled alcohol and even revealed that David was the first person she had sex with sober. He is now bipolar and has admitted to having low moods and suicidal thoughts. In his drunken state, he says, he was a “terrible human being.” He got sober at age 24.

But Lily has recently been pictured without her wedding ring. Video clips from her podcast show Lily’s left hand minus the large diamond David gave her four years ago.

She was also without one when she attended an addiction awareness event in London earlier this month. She has been spotted frequently on this side of the Atlantic lately, particularly in her old home of Notting Hill, where she has reportedly bought and furnished a new flat.

“She’s building a new life, her old life,” says a friend. ‘But her children have to go to school in New York. She’s at a crossroads.’

Allen admits her relationship is unconventional, thanks to her husband’s filming schedule for the series which reportedly earns him £7.5million per episode. The couple sometimes goes weeks without seeing each other and days without speaking.

Before filming resumed, David bought a property in Atlanta, and Lily went to great lengths to explain on her podcast that it’s not “his” but “theirs” since they share their real estate portfolio.

Until recently, Lily often spoke about David on the podcast. In July, she said: “Me and my husband are actually doing well. We’re quite open and flirty.’

She said she flirted more with her husband via text because “David is away quite a lot filming…I feel like being away makes the heart grow fonder.”

David has said he fell in love with Lily on their third date, but admits he has an “ick”: her needing him to be around, sometimes more than he would like.

In her podcast, he said that sometimes Lily wants him with her, “but she doesn’t want to talk or communicate.” She just wants me there, as a presence.”

Last month, Lily revealed in an interview that after a difficult childhood – she has a difficult relationship with her father, the actor and hellraiser Keith Allen – she needs to feel safe at home.

‘My children feel safe. That’s the most important thing for me,” and I added, “I felt very unsafe growing up.”

It is this frankness that makes Lily such a compelling figure. But will she open up about the cause of her current problems?