BRITISH music icon Lulu says writing her memoir has forced her into therapy because it was so distressing.
will release on September 25, and admitted it is so full of revelations she kept secret until now, that it brought on “lots of tears”;;.
During an exclusive chat with Bizarre’s Howell yesterday, said: “I was brought up by a mother who would constantly nag me and say, don’t wash your dirty linen in public.
“The message I got was, ‘Don’t tell anybody anything.
“Keep it to yourself’. So they became secrets.
“Everything was a secret and it was pushed down. And I’ve had issues.
“There’s a lot of things in my life t that I talk about in this book.
“So it’s been intense. I’ve had to go into therapy.
“It’s been quite a thing this past year.
“It came about because somebody said to me, ‘People think , but nobody knows you’.
“Because I keep things to myself.
“I push them down and actually dislodging them, pulling them up, dredging them up, it was not easy.
“That was like, Oh my god. That took a lot of physical, mental effort.”;;
She added: “I know I would hide it, but I always felt different, awkward, and alone.
“And now, you don’t have to feel that way.”;;
The experience has encouraged her to launch charitable fund Lulu’s Mental Health Trust.
Her first initiative was a walk across London yesterday, which raised more than £15,000.
It started at the school in Shadwell, East London where she filmed 1967 movie To Sir With Love, and ended at the old studio in Camden, North London, where she recorded Shout.
Lulu, who posed with her cockapoo Fudge at the start is busier than ever as she also has a popular podcast and has just announced .
Lulu said: “Through the difficulties I have had help, I have survived, and not just survived.
“I am probably in a better place than I have ever been in my whole life.
‘CRAZY WOMAN’
“Part of me likes getting older, although part of me still thinks she’s 15. I’m kind of incorrigible, you know, I’m a crazy woman.”;;
Remarkably, it is 56 years since she won with Boom Bang-a-Bang, but she didn’t tune in on Saturday.
Lulu said: “I can’t bear to watch it and us lose again. I just can’t.
“I have to wait and say, did we win? Oh, we won! Then I can watch it back.
“But those lovely girls, . Don’t let it stop you. Keep going.
“ and I always say, keep pushing forward, especially if you love what you do.”;;
And as for what the UK should do for its entry next year?
Lulu said: “See if they can get Elton to write a song, or .”;;
She might just be on to something.
