The Secret Addiction Lulu Hid for 60 Years
On The Mend
High Performance
4.9 • 566 Ratings
🗓️ 12 January 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week’s guest is Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, a woman who has spent a lifetime living between two selves, and learning what it costs to keep parts of yourself hidden. Known to the world as Lulu, she grew up as “Marie”, a child shaped by chaos at home, silence, and shame, long before she was told she needed to become someone brighter, cleaner, and easier for the public to love.
In this episode, Lulu speaks with striking honesty about learning to hide at a young age, carrying shame that was never really hers, and the confusion of trying to live up to an identity that didn’t fully fit. She also talks about alcohol, relapse, and the long road to recovery, including the relief of finally understanding addiction as an illness, not a personal failure.
This is a conversation about recovery as connection, not perfection. About finding your tribe, telling the truth out loud, and discovering that vulnerability can be a strength, not a weakness.
Simba mattresses 👉Great recovery starts with great sleep. That’s why On The Mend is powered by Simba. Start your 200-night trial & experience the Simba difference:
https://highpfrmc.com/OTM_Simba_AU
Heights👉 Join Matt in getting your energy back with Vitals. 20% off here: https://highpfrmc.com/OTM
Need Support?
Samaritans: Call 116 123 or visit samaritans.org
Narcotics Anonymous: na.org
Alcoholics Anonymous: alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk
Mental Health Mates: mentalhealthmates.co.uk
Shout: https: giveusashout.org
IAPT: england.nhs.uk/mental-health/adults/nhs-talking-therapies/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Want to know who's coming up next? |
| 0:01.6 | Hit follow wherever you get your podcast and you'll be the first to find out. |
| 0:06.4 | I learned to hide. |
| 0:08.1 | Elton John is one of my closest friends. |
| 0:10.6 | He's been in a recovery forever, it feels like. |
| 0:13.6 | And God knows, he said to me when I came out, he went, how the? |
| 0:17.7 | Did I miss that? |
| 0:18.6 | I said, smart sings their ass off. And she looked at me very kindly and she said, I know. |
| 0:25.6 | And I've known for some time. So I looked at her and I said to her, I should go to rehab, right? |
| 0:31.1 | She went, I think so. I was there the next day. |
| 0:38.5 | Hi guys, welcome back to On the Men. |
| 0:40.2 | This is the podcast where we look back at life's toughest moments to figure out how to move forward. |
| 0:44.9 | Yes, good, right? |
| 0:46.2 | Love it. |
| 0:46.7 | Love that. |
| 0:47.3 | I love that. |
| 0:48.0 | Today, I can't really explain how stoked I am to have this guest on. |
| 0:53.1 | I mean, it's just got, she's been a soundtrack |
| 0:55.0 | to our lives for over six decades. I'm honoured, very honest, she's chosen to come on |
| 1:01.0 | and talk about it with us, and gentlemen as Lula. Just before we started rolling, we were kind of |
| 1:05.0 | chatting, that there's two people in you. |
| 1:08.0 | Two characters, yeah. I play two characters. You play two characters. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from High Performance, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of High Performance and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.