Scottish singer Lulu, 76, has disclosed her long-hidden struggle with alcoholism, describing herself as a 'secret drinker'. The Eurovision star told The Times that the turning point came at her 65th birthday party, where she confided in her sister about her uncontrolled drinking.
Within 24 hours of a family lunch, she flew to the Meadows rehabilitation centre in Arizona, spending six weeks there and committing to Alcoholics Anonymous, which she continues to attend. During rehab, she was diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder, stemming from witnessing violent domestic abuse between her parents as a child.
Lulu, whose real name is Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, said: 'I've never spoken about the alcohol before. 'Lulu' is sort of squeaky clean. I think I always wanted to be Miss Perfect, the 'best Lulu', and I was terrified of being like my father.' She said she became 'more and more reliant' on alcohol after going through menopause.
Her therapist in Arizona compared her homelife in a Glasgow tenement to a 'war zone'. Her father would regularly hit her mother when drunk, and her mother would lie that she had tripped on a broom. 'I carried so much shame about my parents, about having got my father taken away (by the police) on one occasion. I never wanted to be like my father,' she said.
Lulu, who achieved 10 UK top 10 singles and a UK top 10 album, said she never drank before going on stage or around her young grandchildren. Her interview came ahead of the release of her memoir, If Only You Knew, on 25 September.
