Adele, who is on the precipice of releasing her “most honest album” to date, has opened up about how dealing with a divorce in the public eye left her feeling downtrodden and ashamed.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, the musician spoke candidly about her typically private personal life, deep diving into her feelings on her relationship breakdown and heading back into the dating scene.
Discussing her upcoming fourth studio album, 30, Adele explained how its creation was an accumulation of her feelings as her life dramatically changed.
“I didn’t really know myself. I thought I did,” she told Rolling Stone. “I don’t know if it was because my Saturn return or if it was because I was well and truly sort of heading into my thirties, but I just didn’t like who I was. I didn’t really know myself. I thought I did. But I just didn’t like who I was.”
Of course, a major part of her journey was her separation from partner Simon Konecki, the father to her nine-year-old son Angelo. Announcing their split back in April 2019, their divorced wasn’t finalised until March 2021.
When discussing how she handled divorce, the “Someone Like You” singer opened up about how being in the public eye hindered the entire process, leaving her feeling low.
“So many people I don’t know know that I didn’t make that work… It f*cking devastated me” she said. “I was embarrassed. No one made me feel embarrassed, but you feel like you didn’t do a good job.”
Now, the 33-year-old is a completely different person who is “not frightened of loneliness anymore”. As for how her latest album helped to heal her emotionally, she explained, “It really did set little me free”.
Previously, Adele has revealed that 30 was also created in the hope of delivering a message for her son Angelo, who was forced to deal with her divorce, too.
“I wanted to explain to him, through this record, when he’s in his twenties or thirties, who I am and why I voluntarily chose to dismantle his entire life in the pursuit of my own happiness,” she told British Vogue back in October. “It made him really unhappy sometimes. And that’s a real wound for me that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to heal.”
However, despite all she dealt with throughout her separation, Adele has found love once more, this time with American sports agent Rich Paul.
While she shared the first photo of the pair back in September, romance rumours had been around two months prior after they were spotted attending an NBA Basketball game together. And while she first found dating difficult due to her fame, it all worked out when she met Paul, thanks to a sneaky set-up by her friends.
“You can’t set me up on a f–king blind date!” she apparently told her friends, as per Rolling Stone. “I’m like, ‘How’s that going to work?’ There’ll be paparazzi outside and someone will call Deuxmoi, or whatever it’s f**king called! It ain’t happening.”
However, her newfound relationship may have been due to her famous friendship group in Los Angeles, including Nicole Richie and Jennifer Lawrence. “They humanised me,” she told the publication.
Admitting that she “avoided talking to anyone that was ever famous in any capacity,” the musician revealed that she honestly believed that she wasn’t famous enough to have famous friends. “I’m very British like that,” she said.
Adele’s fourth studio album 30 is set to be released on November 19. In the meantime, you can flick through the entire tracklist here.
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