Lulu has spoken publicly for the first time about her struggle with alcohol addiction.

The Scottish music icon has revealed that she has struggled with feelings of shame while secretly relying on alcohol, eventually seeking help at a rehabilitation centre.

In a new interview with The Times, Lulu admitted that she "was a secret drinker" because she wanted to protect the "squeaky-clean image of Lulu", adding that she hadn't even told her "well-known friends in recovery themselves. When I finally told them, they said, 'How did we miss that?'"

Lulu, 76, then explained that addiction runs in her family.

"It's a family illness. The gene is there," she shared. "For me, it had been controllable until I got into my sixties. 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."

The Shout hitmaker continued, "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."

Lulu, who revealed that she had been to a rehab centre in Arizona in both 1991 and 2025, also explained why she had remained silent until now.

"For years, I made a choice not to talk about (my alcoholism) publicly," she divulged. "I chose to wait until I had the language to understand it before I could start spouting off."

She added, "I've learnt a lot from other people, their memoirs, and self-help books too, so maybe I can be of some help now."

Reflecting on the root of her addiction, the singer said she believes it was "the culmination of a life spent trying to suppress feelings", having always supported her family while maintaining her professional image.

Opening up about how she is doing now, she said that she has "never been happier in (her) life" and is more "in touch" with her feelings than ever.