adele oprah interview

5 Takeaways From Adele’s Interview With Oprah

Tell us you love Punkee without telling us you love Punkee. Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter. It'll mean the world.

Adele is back with a vengeance, sitting down with Oprah Winfrey to talk about her long-awaited album 30, her divorce, finding new love, and responding to her critics.

Adele One Night Only aired in the US overnight, with Adele performing a few of her classics, and three songs from her new album for the first time: ‘Easy On Me’, ‘I Drink Wine’, and ‘Hold On’. Of course, it’s not an Adele concert unless someone proposes, with the UK singer helping to arrange for one lucky fella to come on stage and get down on one knee, as Adele serenaded the happy couple.

In between songs, sitting in Oprah’s rose garden — yep, the same location that hosted Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s infamous interview earlier this year — Adele spoke openly about her mindset over the past few years, as she grappled with her divorce which inspired her upcoming album. She told the host that she had a realisation that she was merely “plodding along”, rather than actually living her life, which made her decide to end her marriage in 2019.

Adele also touched on how her body has changed in recent years, and what the catalyst was for her sudden weight loss.

Here are the major takeaways from Adele’s interview with Oprah:

1. Adele addressed the reaction to her weight loss.

Addressing her changing weight from her last album to how she looks now, Adele shared that she started going to the gym every day to manage her anxiety following her divorce. “It was about my anxiety. I had the most terrifying anxiety attacks after I left my marriage that paralysed me completely,” she said, adding that exercising regularly “really contributed towards me getting my mind right.”

When Oprah asked her if she was surprised by how people reacted to her changing body, she replied “I’m not shocked or even fazed by it because my body has been objectified my entire career.”

Adele went on to say that she doesn’t want to make anyone feel let down, but ultimately she can’t be held responsible for other people’s views on their own bodies. “I was body positive then and I’m body positive now. But it’s not my job to validate how people feel about their bodies. And I feel bad that, you know, it’s made anyone feel horrible about themselves. But that’s not my job.”

2. Adele spoke about her decision to divorce Simon Konecki.

Adele spoke at length about her split with her ex-husband, Simon Konecki, who she shares 9-year-old son Angelo with. “I’ve been obsessed with a nuclear family my whole life because I never came from one,” said the singer. “From a very young age [I] promised myself that, when I had kids, we’d stay together. And I tried for a really, really long time.”

Adele said she felt “embarrassed” that her marriage only lasted a year. “I was so disappointed for my son, I was so disappointed for myself. I thought I was going to be the one that stopped doing those bloody patterns all the time,” the ‘Easy On Me’ singer told Oprah. “It’s almost like I disrespected it by getting married and divorced so quickly.”

Following her separation from Simon, Adele went through a hard time and experienced a lot of loneliness. “I’ve spent a lot of time on my own. I stopped drinking. That’s one great way to get to know yourself, ” she said. “The process of getting a divorce, being a single parent … so many people know what I’m talking about. I felt like not doing it anymore.”

That being said, Adele has no regrets about ending the marriage. “I’ve never questioned whether I made a bad decision,” she told Oprah.

3. Adele revealed her relationship with her ex-husband now.

Despite their marriage being short-lived, Adele credits Simon with keeping her sane during a time when she could have gone off the rails. “I think Simon probably saved my life,” she said.

Adele and Simon began dating in 2011, the year that the singer released her game-changing album 21. “He came at such a moment, where the stability that him and Angelo have given me, no one else would ever have been able to give me — especially at that time in my life. I was so young, and I just I think I would have got a bit lost in all of it.”

She continued, “Even now I trust him with my life. He and Angelo were angels that were sent to me, that’s how I feel,” she said. “I could have easily gone down some dodgy paths and self-destructed from being so overwhelmed by all of it.”

4. Adele shared a little about her new boyfriend Rich Paul.

The singer spilled a little bit about her relationship with current boyfriend and sports agent Rich Paul. Adele revealed they met at a birthday party a few years back, but it was only in early 2021 that he invited her to a business meeting that ended up being their first date. “I’m like, ‘A business meeting about what?!’,” she joked. “We wouldn’t be having a meeting about business. It was just the first time we’d hung out only on our own, and not with other friends and stuff like that. So that was a very natural way. I think that’s how people would normally meet each other, like, in real life.”

When Oprah pressed Adele to talk about Rich, she said “I’m blushing!” but did describe him as “hilarious” and “smart,” adding that “it’s quite incredible watching him do what he does.” Rich is a successful agent and founder of Klutch Sports Group, who represents NBA stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Adele said that her bond with Rich is the first relationship in which she’s “loved myself and been open to loving and being loved by someone else.” As far as what’s to come in the future, Adele is open to expanding her family. “I would like more children,” she said. “It wouldn’t be the end of the world if I didn’t because I have Angelo, but yeah, I think so.”

adele oprah interview

5. Adele addressed her fraught relationship with her late-father.

Adele says her “biggest wound” in her life was her “dad’s absolute lack of presence,” with her father leaving when she was two years old. Adele and her dad, Marc Evans, were estranged for several years but reconciled before his death. “I had absolutely zero expectations of anybody because I’ve been let down so many times,” she said. “He was the reason I haven’t fully accessed what it is to be in a loving, loving relationship with somebody.”

When she found out that her dad was sick, Adele finally made amends. “During the last two, three years of my life my dad got really sick. … And not that long ago, back in April when my dad died and we had our peace together, I felt that huge gaping hole filled,” she said.

Before his death, Adele played Marc her new album over Zoom. “His favourites were all of my favourites, which was amazing,” Adele told Oprah. “It was very, very healing when he died, it was literally like the wound closed up.”

–

If you want to watch the entire interview and check out the performances, Adele One Night Only will air Sunday November 21 on Channel Seven at 7pm and will be available to stream or watch on demand on 7Plus.