Lily Allen has said the music industry is “rife” with sexual abuse but insiders refuse to speak up.
The singer made the remark as she revealed more details about her own encounter with a record industry executive who allegedly targeted her.
The 33-year-old said she was sexually assaulted when she fell asleep in a hotel room after she got “smashed” at a party.
Allen said the man took her to his room to sleep it off, but she woke up at 5am “because I could feel someone next to me pressing their naked body against my back”.
She added that she “moved away as quickly as possible and jumped out of the bed, full of alarm… and ran out of his room”.
Allen has described the alleged assault in her memoir My Thoughts Exactly which will be published later in September.
She said she consulted a lawyer in London and signed an affidavit documenting the incident, because “I wanted it on record that I’d been sexually abused by someone I worked with”.
The Brit Award winner added that she blamed herself for her the alleged encounter because she had been drinking, and said she didn’t report it because she thought there was no point.
She writes: “If things went down, I told myself, he’d win.”
Allen, whose latest album No Shame has been nominated for the Mercury Prize, has expressed her frustration that she didn’t confront the man over his behaviour.
She also carried on working with him.
Allen told the Guardian Weekend magazine that she wanted to name the man in the book, but was advised not to on legal grounds by her publisher.
She adds in the interview that it is not only female artists who have had such experiences, and that the industry is “rife with sexual abuse”.
Allen said that insiders are remaining quiet even in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
The mother-of-two previously discussed in general terms that she been targeted by a powerful music industry figure but has now provided more details.
She said when she reported it to her representatives, nothing was done about it.
