Lulu: “I deeply disliked myself!” Recovering from alcoholism and trauma

Happy Place

Fearne Cotton

Society & Culture, Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Relationships, Personal Journals

4.6 • 15.2K Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2025

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Lulu shot to fame at 15, and she’s been playing that part, masking who she really is – Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie – for the six decades since.

In this chat with Fearne, Lulu explains how she felt that everything from her real name and accent, to her personality and childhood weren’t good enough, so she created a character for the public to love. However, this kind of emotional suppression can have painful consequences, and she’s since learned to stop running from her messy parts.

Lulu talks through the moment she realised she was an alcoholic, and how recovery has helped her truly like herself. They chat about how to trust your intuition, and reinvent yourself in every decade should you want to... but prepare for others to find your growth uncomfortable.

Plus, there are revelations about her relationship with David Bowie that Lulu’s never publicised before, and details about how she put her father in jail as a child.

Lulu’s new book, If Only You Knew, is out now.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and a massive welcome to Happy Place with me, Fern Cotton.
0:04.6	This is the show that doesn't need you to always be happy, clapy, smiley and compliant.
0:09.7	Today, I'm chatting to Lulu.
0:12.2	So by that point, I thought, my name isn't good enough.
0:15.5	My accent's not right.
0:17.3	My personality is obviously not good enough.
0:19.7	So I realised I've played the part of Lulu since I was 15 years old.
0:25.4	And obviously part of me is Marie from Glasgow.
0:29.6	Lulu is happy, poppy de Lulu.
0:33.8	And Marie is scrappy, sometimes angry, determined, different to Lulu.
0:41.0	I'm really excited about this conversation.
0:43.4	I've sort of known Lulu on off over the years.
0:46.8	I don't know where I first met her, but the first time I got to properly spend time with her, I think, was when she came as a guest on Celebrity Juice.
0:55.4	She sat down next to me and the first thing I noticed was that she smelled so gorgeous. It sort of blindsided me
1:02.8	and I was like, what is that? She's like, oh, it's an oil that I get whenever I go to India.
1:06.2	Next thing I know, she comes back from India and she brings me some oil. So what did she just
1:10.6	grab from her handbag when we were doing the chat? She bought me and she brings me some oil. So what did she just grab from her
1:11.5	handbag when we were doing the chat? She bought me a little pot of the oil and it smells like sort of,
1:18.3	it's, do you know what it smells like mysticalness? That's not even a word, but it smells mystic. Oh my
1:24.1	God, it is heavenly. And then the last time I saw Lulu was when we went to go and watch the Rolling Stones together at Hyde Park. I had the cheek to try and sing in front of Lulu. Never again. One of the bigger regrets in my life. I tried to sing out loud to whatever, like jumping jack flash. And then Lulu comes in like with her belting voice never sing in front of lulu
1:45.5	is the lesson i learned that day but she is an absolute dream the loveliest person ever a ball of
1:53.6	energy she absolutely shot to fame when she was just a teenager and for the next 40 years or so
	...

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