Lily Allen is setting the record straight after she received a negative reaction to returning her adopted puppy.
The British singer wrote in a series of Instagram stories shared Aug. 25 that she has been receiving “abhorrent messages, including death threats.”
The messages come after Allen revealed that she and her husband, “Stranger Things” star David Harbour, returned a dog after the animal ate her family’s passports.
“‘we tried very hard for a very long time but the passports were the straw that broke the camels back,’” she wrote, quoting herself and adding, “this is the part of the podcast that the tabloids decided not to quote in their articles about me ‘dumping my puppy.’”
Allen continued, “people have been furiously reacting to a deliberately distorted cobbling together of quotes designed to make people angry and as a result, i’ve received some really abhorrent messages, including death threats, some of the most disgusting comments have been all over my social media channels, and i’m really not surprised because this is exactly what those articles are designed to do.”
She noted that she’s “ok,” but added that “it has been a really tough few days that has impacted me and my family.”
“(The dog) couldn’t be left alone for more than 10 minutes, she had 3 long walks a day 2 by us and 1 with a local dog walker and several other dogs, we worked with the shelter that we rescued her from and they referred us to a behavioral specialist and a professional trainer, it was a volunteer from the shelter who would come and dog sit her when we were away,” Allen wrote.
She said that after “many months and much deliberation,” their family agreed that the their home wasn’t the best fit for Mary. The dog was subsequently placed with a person known to the family, Allen added.
“We couldn’t meet Mary’s needs and her happiness and welfare were central to us making that decision, as difficult as it was,” she wrote.
Allen noted that she has given rescue dogs a home since she was 4 years old, and has “never been accused of mistreating an animal.”
The singer then made a plea to her audience to “stop acting on clickbait articles” without doing due diligence.
“It is distortion, and all you are doing by engaging with these stories is making more money for people who profit from sewing diversion and tearing us all apart,” she wrote.
On an episode of her podcast, “Miss Me,“ posted Aug. 22, Allen originally explained their decision behind returning the pup.
“We actually did adopt a dog together already,” Allen said. “But then it ate my passport, and so I took her back to the home.”
“She ate all three of our passports, and they had our visas,” Allen continued. “And I cannot tell you how much money it cost me to get everything replaced, because it was in Covid, and so it was just an absolute logistical nightmare.”
Allen shares her children with ex-husband Sam Cooper, who lives in England. She explained that not having the passports make it difficult for her kids to visit overseas.
“Because the father of my children lives in England, I couldn’t get them back to see their dad for, like, four months, five months because this f—- dog had eaten the passports,” she said. “And I just couldn’t look at her. I was like: ‘You ruined my life.’”
“Passports weren’t the only things she ate,” Allen added. She was a very badly behaved dog, and I really tried very hard with her, but it didn’t work out. The passports were the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak.”
In that same podcast episode, Allen shared that their family might be picking up a new puppy “in the next couple of weeks.” The singer said she and her two daughters were excited to add the “very cute” Chihuahua mix to their family.
This article first appeared on TODAY.com. Read more from TODAY here: