LULU stunned This Morning viewers today as she let slip a swear word live on air while speaking about her hidden struggle with alcoholism – forcing host Ben Shephard to quickly apologise.
The 76-year-old star appeared on the sofa alongside Ben and Cat Deeley to promote her new memoir If Only You Knew and revealed she secretly battled drink for years – even hiding it from her own son.
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Lulu said: “I mean, you know, my son didn’t know I was an alcoholic when I went to rehab.
“He went, ‘Whoa! Whoa, wait a minute, wait a minute, Mum. You know? Are you sure?’ I said, yes.”
She also revealed how Sir Elton John was stunned to discover her addiction, admitting: “Elton said to me, ‘How the f**k did I miss that baby?’”
At that moment Ben halted the interview and quickly jumped in, telling viewers: “Elton has an interesting choice of vocabulary, we just need to be careful.
“Because it’s quite early, so apologies.”
He then turned to the camera and added: “You’ll understand that. I’m sorry it’s not Lulu, it’s Elton.”
The Shout singer laughed it off, admitting she forgot herself.
When asked why she had chosen to go public now, Lulu explained: “I think the time is right…
“I am an alcoholic in recovery, and I have never talked about it publicly.
“I feel this is the time I can talk about it ‘cause I know there are many people who are not as lucky as I am and find recovery, and there’s many, many reasons why, every alcoholic is different, but there’s similarities.
“It’s the way young people talk.
“They share everything. When I first started out, my mother would say, ‘Don’t talk about it, don’t wash your dirty laundry in public. Don’t talk about what goes on in this house.’
“So I had this sort of secret but actually, shame filled. Yes. I was full of shame about being an alcoholic like my dad.
“And full of shame about a lot of things that happened in my childhood, that a lot of things that I’ve done, and I thought, at this point, I’m 76, maybe it’s helpful to share with other people.”
Cat told her: “You kept a secret for a very, very long time.”
Lulu confirmed: “Yeah, that is November 2013 was the last time I had a drink.
“I was so ashamed of it. You know, I’d go out and I would have a drink and have a couple of drinks.
“But then it’s when I would go home. That I would have another drink. And the thing about—you’ll know you’re an alcoholic, if you can’t stop.
“You know, I have a lot of friends who have a drink and say, I’ve had enough, but I couldn’t do that, and I’d find myself, I was a high-functioning alcohol, that’s why nobody knew.
“I would fall asleep, you know, sozled, but I set the alarm, I’d wake up for work the next day, brush myself off and go to work.
“The book is about that, which I’ve never talked about.”
Lulu also speaks about her escape from her violent childhood at the age of 15 in the book, and mixing in celebrity circles with musicians like The Beatles and David Bowie.
Her memoir If Only You Knew hits shelves tomorrow and she’ll celebrate it with an intimate UK tour in which sh ediscusses the book and performs songs, running from September to October.
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