Adele has opened up about her divorce from ex-husband Simon Konecki in a candid new interview.
The singer shared a rare insight into her private life as she spoke to British Vogue magazine about her forthcoming album, saying their marriage “just wasn’t right for me any more”.
Adele split from the charity boss in 2019, with their divorce finalised earlier this year.
In the interview, Adele revealed that she and Simon didn’t actually get married until 2018, despite the press believing they had wed two years earlier after she referred to him as “my husband” during an acceptance speech at the Grammys.
“The timeline the press have of my relationship, my marriage, is actually completely wrong,” she told the magazine. “We got married when I was 30… and then I left.”
When asked how long she was married before it ended, Adele said she was “not gonna go into that detail” as she was “embarrassed”, before adding: “It wasn’t very long.”
Of the split, Adele said: “It just wasn’t right for me any more. I didn’t want to end up like a lot of other people I knew. I wasn’t miserable miserable, but I would have been miserable had I not put myself first. But, yeah, nothing bad happened or anything like that.”
Adele added that her anxiety was “so terrible” during that time, and that she would often “forget what I had or hadn’t said” to their son Angelo – who was born in 2012 – about their separation.
“Obviously Simon and I never fought over him or anything like that,” she continued. “Angelo’s just like, ‘I don’t get it.’ I don’t really get it either.
“There are rules that are made up in society of what happens and doesn’t happen in marriage and after marriage, but I’m a very complex person. I’ve always let him know how I’m feeling from a very young age because I felt quite frazzled as an adult.”
Adele revealed that she is still close to Simon, describing him as “perfect person to have my child with”. In fact, he has been able to move into a house on the same estate as Adele.
Admitting that the question of how they were to break their lives apart sent her spiralling, Adele said: “In the end I was like, ‘We’re not going to. You’ve bought the house opposite my house. Nothing changes for Angelo.’”
In the same interview, Adele confirmed her rumoured relationship with American sports agent Rich Paul, telling the magazine they are “very happy” together.
She added that she had dated other people before getting together with Rich, but they “hated” being out or seen with her.
″[Rich] is not frazzled by it at all. It feels like it’s consistent and considerate enough that I don’t care who knows.”
She added: “He’s great. He’s so fucking funny. He’s so smart, you know.”
Earlier this week, the chart-topping singer finally confirmed that her six-year hiatus was coming to an end, with the news that her new single Easy On Me would be released on 15 October.
This news was accompanied by a 20-second teaser clip, which saw the Someone Like You star listening to her new song on a cassette tape in her car, before driving off.
Easy On Me is the first single to be lifted from Adele’s upcoming fourth album, which looks set to be called 30, following a pattern started with her debut release 19 and continued on follow-ups 21 and 25
It’s now approaching six years since Adele last released new music, when she broke records with her hit album 25 in 2015.
The full interview with Adele is available to read in the November issue of British Vogue, on sale Friday 8 October. It can also be read online here.