"My name is Lulu. I am an alcoholic."
It's a startling way to open an interview, even if you know it's coming.
The 76-year-old pop star, whose career has spanned decades since her first hits in the 1960s, has just sat down to discuss her new memoir, If You Only Knew. In it, she opens up for the first time about her historical drinking problems.
An early preview, in the form of a Times interview this month, made headlines around the world, and she's been heartened by the response.
"It's liberating," she says. "It's good to share the difficulties, because a lot of [alcoholics] don't get here. I'm really lucky."
