Lulu Reveals Secret Battle With Alcohol and Recovery

Singer Lulu has been one of Britain's most successful performers for more than 60 years, and now the acclaimed 76-year-old is lifting the lid on a painful reality that has so long lay hidden behind her professional image. In her new memoir If Only You Knew, Lulu admits she was a "secret alcoholic", remaining silent about her suffering, while still pursuing her career.

For decades Lulu was the epitome of professionalism, remembered for her Eurovision Song Contest win and years of chart-topping hits. Away from the stage, however, she confesses, her drinking was heavy and she was suffering from profound emotional
wounds. "I’m an alcoholic. I am in recovery," she can now say publicly, having broken down the image she for so long defended.

Childhood Trauma and the Roots of Addiction

Her admission comes with a specification about how it all started. Lulu grew up in Glasgow and witnessed alcohol and domestic violence in the household she grew up in. She described her home as a "war zone" where fear marked every day with her mother and the authorities unable to intervene. Those lived experiences were later diagnosed as complex PTSD.

Lulu is now aware of the connection between her childhood and her lifelong battle. "It's a family illness," she said, pointing out how addiction can go through families for generations. For a long time, Lulu held onto her childhood scars, coming to cope with them through the use of alcohol as a solution without or much awareness of the level of her dependency to cope with life as she enjoyed her overnight success with 'To Sir, With Love.'

A Turning Point at 65

In 2013, she reached her breaking point, while sitting with her sister Edwina at lunch for her 65th birthday. For the first time, she admitted to her sister that her drinking was out of control. The next day, she flew to The Meadows, a rehabilitation clinic in Arizona, and spent six weeks in treatment.

There she found help through therapy and Alcoholics Anonymous. She says that those steps permitted her take the action of confronting both, her addiction to alcohol, and the trauma that had influenced so much of her life.

Hiding in Plain Sight

Friends, who were also in recovery, were blown away when she told them. “How did we miss that?” they asked. Despite sharing spaces with people who struggled with their own addictions, Lulu managed to conceal her drinking, even from those who may have recognized the signs.

Her drinking escalated in her fifties, after she lost both parents, the menopause experience and a career lull when other younger actresses entered the spotlight. Alone at home, and feeling weight of changing circumstances, she continued to rely on alcohol which was initially hidden, became a constant companion.

Finding Peace and Sharing the Story

These days, Lulu says she has peace that she never had before. She no longer has to tour full-time and is focusing on her health, meditation, time with her son Jordan and her grandchildren. Writing her memoir was a grueling process, and she even had to go to therapy for it, but she states that "telling her truth" has been liberating.

Her memoir, to be published later this month, is not just an admission. Lulu wants to inspire others who are using substances and/or struggling with trauma to get help. By speaking out, she wants to reveal that even people who look "perfect" on the outside are struggling with things that other people do not see.

Conclusion 

Lulu's choice to share her story means a significant departure from someone who always kept her private life private. Now at 76, she says she is finally living authentically, and she hopes that she can help take some of the shame away from addiction. Her journey from silence to recovery is a pursuit of healing and a reminder that being famous does not protect anyone from trauma - and that healing is possible despite years of hiding.