Adele One Night Only: The 5 biggest revelations from singer’s Oprah Winfrey interview

Singer’s discussion with Winfrey covered many subjects, from weight loss to heartbreak

Divorce, body image, parenthood – these were just some of the topics Adele opened up about in her candid, wide-ranging interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The conversation between the singer and the US talk show host aired as part of a two-hour special on Sunday 14 November on CBS in America.

Here are the biggest revelations from the special…

Body image

Adele opened up about her recent weight loss, saying that she initially started exercising more because she noticed it helped her manage her anxiety. She said she liked having her workout sessions on her schedule, and that she didn’t set out to lose weight.

“I’m not shocked or even phased by [people’s reactions],” Adele told Winfrey. “Because my body has been objectified my entire career.”

She added: “I was body-positive then and I’m body-positive now. It’s not my job to validate how people feel about their bodies… I’m trying to sort my own life out.”

The singer, who described herself as an athlete and as a skilled boxer, said her weight might fluctuate in the future and that she’s not worried about putting on weight.

Divorce

Adele and Simon Konecki (Getty, Shutterstock)

Adele talked about the moment she decided to end her relationship with ex-husband Simon Konecki, telling Winfrey that she realised she wanted a divorce while talking with some friends.

“We were all answering these questions in this very bougie magazine, and it was something like, ‘What’s something that no one would ever know about you?’ And I just said it in front of three of my friends, I was like, ‘I’m really not happy. I’m not living, I’m just plodding along.’

“And I remember a lyric that I wrote that I put on a song on 25, which is, ‘I want to live and not just survive.’ I definitely felt like that. And it was when I admitted to my own friends who thought I was really happy that actually, I’m really unhappy, and they were all aghast.”

She added: “I felt like it was sort of from there that I was like, what am I doing it for?”

Parenthood

The singer discussed the pain of missing her nine-year-old son, Angelo, who she shares with Konecki.

“The process of not seeing your child every single day wasn’t really a plan that I had when I became a mum,” she continued. “The process of arriving for yourself every day, turning up for yourself every single day and still running a home, running a business.”

New boyfriend

Adele and Rich Paul at an NBA game (Getty Images)

For the first time, Adele publicly talked about her new boyfriend, the American sports agent Rich Paul.

“He’s just hilarious,” she said. “Oh, he’s so funny, he’s hilarious, yeah. And very smart. You know, he’s very, very smart. It’s quite incredible watching him do what he does.”

She praised the “easiness” of their relationship and said that things have been “very smooth” to date.

Adele also said it’s the first time she’s “loved myself” as well as being the first time she has “been open to loving and being loved by someone else”. “It’s just timing,” she added. “But it’d be interesting to see what my reaction is like in general to anything that hurts me now that I feel so secure in myself, and I’m talking outside of romance as well.”

Father

Adele spoke about her relationship with her estranged father, Mark Evans, during the interview.

She said he didn’t listen to her music for years and that they only song he had listened to was her 2007 “Hometown Glory”.

“He was like, it’s too painful. He would switch it off and he never ever played any of my other music,” she told Winfrey.

The situation changed shortly before Evans’s death of bowel cancer in May this year. In April, Adele and her father were able to have a conversation she says brought her much-needed closure. During the exchange, Adele played him her new album, 30, on Zoom.

“I felt that huge gaping hole filled,” Adele told Winfrey of the conversation she had with her father. “We forgave each other... We found our peace together, and then I played the album to him on Zoom.”