The Scottish star got sober in 2013 after sharing her struggles with her family at her 65th birthday party

NEED TO KNOW

• Lulu says going public about her alcoholism has been freeing after years of keeping it a secret
• The singer revealed her struggles in her 2025 memoir and sought treatment in Arizona in 2013
• She credits sharing her journey with helping others and says she feels lucky to have reached sobriety

“To Sir with Love” singer Lulu is opening up about the freedom she’s felt since sharing her alcoholism struggles with the world.

The Scottish star, 77, told The i Paper that going public with her situation has changed her perspective on the matter.

“Now that I’ve come out and been vocal about being an alcoholic, I’m not proud of it, but I’m not ashamed,” she said in an interview published Sept. 18. “Because I was ashamed. And of past things with my family.”

Lulu first discussed her alcoholism in her 2025 memoir If Only You Knew, in which she revealed that she’d kept her struggle secret before getting sober at a treatment center in Arizona in 2013.

“The Man with the Golden Gun” singer told the outlet that becoming famous at just 15 years old and having to transform herself to better suit showbiz had a major impact on her.

“I lived in terror of not being perfect. I look at old film with from years ago and think, ‘the poor wee thing doesn’t know who she is,’” she said. “And because of my insecurities… When you come from an alcoholic, or dysfunctional, family you’re on high alert all the time.”

She continued: “I was trying to find out who I was. Eventually, you’ve got to face the reality of life. I had a lot of things I had to face up to. It was so painful, I had to drink more.”

Lulu — who was previously married to Bee Gees singer Maurice Gibb and to celebrity hairstylist John Freida — told the BBC in September 2025 that she found it “liberating” to be able to speak openly about her sobriety journey.

“It’s good to share the difficulties, because a lot of [alcoholics] don’t get here,” she said. “I’m really lucky.”

According to the outlet, Lulu first told her family she was struggling at her 65th birthday party, when her niece was talking about a friend who had similar issues.

“I said, ‘He’s not the only one.’ It just came out of my mouth. I didn’t even think about it. But the table went silent,” she recalled. “Then my sister looked at me and said, ‘I know… I’ve known for some time now.’”

She left for the U.S. less than a day later, and spent six weeks in rehab and another five years attending daily Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Lulu told the BBC she kept her illness private so as not to ruin her “squeaky clean” image.

“It’s a family illness. The gene is there. For me, it had been controllable until I got into my sixties,” she told the Times last year. “After I became menopausal, with both my parents gone, the empty nest, looking around and seeing all the young kids in the music industry, I became more and more reliant on it and so it just got worse. For many years, and I can’t say how many, I had not been happy with the way I felt, not at all happy and [yet] unable to ask for help.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.

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