Lily Allen took coke as she felt lonely

Lily Allen says she took cocaine because she "felt like a lonely child".

'The Fear' singer doesn't use the hard drug anymore, but doesn't frown upon those who chose to, insisting there is too much public furore surrounding the class A substance.

Lily, 24, said: "I felt like a lonely child when everyone else was doing it and I wasn't. That's why I took cocaine, when I didn't even like it.

"I know lots of people who take cocaine three nights a week and get up and go to work. But we never hear that side of the story. I wish people wouldn't sensationalise it."

The UK singer also hit out at Christianity, saying her religious schooling went against what was happening in her life.

Lily – who was expelled from several of the thirteen schools she attended - added to Word magazine: "I don't like Christianity much. I was brought up in a Catholic school and they told me gays, adultery and drugs were bad.

"All my mum's friends were gay, my dad was having affairs and there were drugs in the house when I was a kid, so it was a bit cruel."

Lily's new album 'It's Not Me, It's You' tackles religion on the track 'Him'.