If Adele’s new album hasn’t already left you in a puddle of tears, then perhaps her incredibly sweet reunion with her former English teacher will be the tearful trigger you needed.
During her An Audience With Adele TV special at the London Palladium, the songstress was brought to tears when her favourite high school teacher made an unexpected appearance on stage with her.
At the event, she performed a plethora of songs from her new album 30, with a set list similar to that of her One Night Only With Adele performance in Los Angeles.
However during this event, the star-studded audience were encouraged to stand up and ask Adele questions in between songs. From Dua Lipa to Emma Watson and Stormzy, it was Love Actually alum Emma Thompson whose question saw Adele burst into tears.
Standing up in front of the crowd, she asked, “When you were younger, was there someone who kind of supported you, inspired you or sort of protected you from all the trials and tribulations of life and inspired you to go on?”
Without hesitation, Adele announced it was Miss McDonald, her English teacher at her school Chestnut Grove who she only knew for one year.
When Thompson asked if she kept in touch with Miss McDonald, she said that she hadn’t because the English teacher left the school when she was in year eight.
“It was just one year, but she got me really into literature,” Adele explained. “I’ve always been obsessed with English, and obviously now I write lyrics, but she also did street dance. I was too scared to join, but in the canteen they used to do these dances and stuff like that.”
“But yeah, she was so bloody cool, so engaging and she really made us care and we knew that she cared about us and stuff like that,” the musician continued. “She used to have all these gold bracelets on and gold sequins and I don’t know, she was just bloody cool and so relatable and likeable that I really looked forward to my English lessons.”
But it was that exact moment, when Thompson revealed that Miss McDonald was in the audience and began to lead her to the stage. Upon seeing her former teacher, the Grammy-winning musician began to cry as they hugged for the first time in years.
“Hello, my darling! Oh my god, I’m so proud of you,” McDonald said while they embraced.
“I didn’t know that you were coming!” she replied in shock. “Hi, how are you? Oh, you look exactly the same. Are you still teaching?”
McDonald replied, “No no, I’m just looking after my family. Don’t cry, thank you. Thank you for remembering me.”
In a sweet exchange, Adele told the audience that McDonald “really did change my life”. After the former teacher pointed out her children in the audience, Adele asked if she could get her phone number.
“I’ve still got all my books, you know?” the musician said. “All my books from when you were my teacher.”
However, their reunion wasn’t the only memorable moment from the night. The internet took an interest in spotting the plethora of famous British faces sprinkled throughout the audience, but had their eye on one in particular—Emma Thompson.
Aside from being part of Adele’s tearful reunion with Miss McDonald, Thompson also caught the world’s attention with her hilarious dance moves during each of Adele’s performances.
No matter whether the song was empowering or heartbreaking, Thompson’s energy was almost as captivating as the performance she was bopping along to. And naturally, the internet took to Twitter to share what they thought of Thompson’s moves.
If there’s one thing to takeaway from Adele’s An Audience With, it’s that Emma Thompson is clearly a huge fan.
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