Lily Allen says it would be hypocritical to stop her daughter's taking drugs when they're older.

The 'Hard Out Here' singer - who has admitted to a wild past including cocaine - has insisted she isn't in a position to tell Ethel, two, and Marnie, one, about the dangers.

Lily - now reformed - told BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs: ''I can't really do anything but be there for them.

''People are going to do what they want to do, quite rightly. They'll say, 'You're a hypocrite. You went an experiment and you said it was a right laugh so what do you mean I can't?'

''But I've seen so much of it growing up and I've seen people really lose the plot and die.''

Meanwhile, Lily has praised her husband Sam Cooper for helping her overcome her personal problems by showing up ''at the right moment''.

She added: ''One of the many amazing things about my husband is that he came along just at the right moment when things could have really gone south. I was really manic.

''I was on the road, being chased by people. My life was splashed all over the papers, people in my group of friends were selling stories about me.

''Feeling like you can't trust anyone in your circle brings on horrible spells of paranoia. My way of coping with it was by not eating very much as a control thing and to get out of it and as wasted as I possibly could.''