“I’m unhappy, I’m not living, I’m barely dragging my feet.” This phrase, said by the legendary British singer in a circle of friends, became the beginning of the end for her marriage. At least that’s how it seemed from the outside. In reality, everything began to collapse even earlier – unnoticed by Adele herself.
She desperately wanted everything to be like in a fairy tale, to have a “happily ever after.” It had never been like that in her family. Her father left when Adele was only 9 months old, leaving his daughter with only her middle name, Blue, and a few Ella Fitzgerald records. And if until she was three, the girl could at least occasionally visit her dad, then after that he completely disappeared from the radar and did not appear in Adele’s life for many years.
The father showed up when the singer’s name appeared on the covers of all the British tabloids, and she herself began to reap an endless harvest of music awards. But did he even have the right to pronounce her name now?
Ironically, her father’s big comeback happened the same year that Adele’s career and personal life took off. In 2011, she met him, and it seemed like he was her fairytale prince, her “happily ever after.”
His name was Simon Konecki, a businessman and an American who had moved to London as a child. He was 14 years older than Adele, but he understood her perfectly. They met when Adele was still recovering from a painful breakup, and it was Simon who proved to be the saving grace for her wounded heart.
A year later, the legendary album “21” will be released, and most of the songs on it are inspired by the pain of that breakup, but the masterpiece “Someone Like You” is an ode to Simon, her protection and support, her stone wall, her faithful friend, her “happily ever after.”
It would seem that this is happiness: a loved one is nearby, a career is on the rise, but the ill-fated father ruins everything. Journalists paid him for hot facts about his popular daughter, and he easily agreed. This threw the singer off balance:
“He left me and suddenly shows up ten years later and says all the problems in my life are because of our bad relationship! Go to hell!”
Was this rage simply resentment towards her father who had abandoned her? Or was it caused by fear of being reminded of the fragility of love? Who knows, but her parents’ unsuccessful experience in building a happy family turned into neuroses and hyperfixation for Adele: she had to succeed in this field: “I was always obsessed with the idea of a family consisting of two spouses and children, because I didn’t have one,” the singer herself admitted many years later.
And she did everything to make her dream come true. In 2012, she gave birth to Simon’s son. The happiness of her first child was overshadowed by postpartum depression. Did she really want to be a mother or was she just taking revenge on her father? To become happy in spite of and in spite of.
A few years later, Adele and Simon officially became a family. In 2017, right at one of the concerts, the singer admitted that they had a secret wedding. The ceremony was modest and literally homey. True, home in their case is a luxurious villa in Los Angeles.
Soon after, the newlyweds acquired a family nest to match – they bought a luxurious mansion in the south of England. It was a purely symbolic gesture: the couple already had a whole catalog of real estate, from a penthouse in New York to an apartment in London. But it was their home together, a home for their family. It seemed that all of Adele’s childhood dreams had come true. But it was a lie, and above all, a lie to herself.
“Happily ever after” was falling apart. Adele was hardly home, didn’t spend time with her son and husband, disappeared on tours and in recording studios. Simon felt lonely and abandoned – this was not how he imagined life with a girl who wanted a family more than anything in the world. And she, in turn, was drowning in guilt, but could not give up her career.
The couple decided to get a divorce in 2019, but the relationship actually died a year earlier. Just a year after the glossy photos, after buying a family nest, after a secret wedding. The patches Adele tried to patch up her dying love looked beautiful, but, alas, they didn’t work. In an interview with Oprah in 2021, she will say that she no longer believes in marriage. And perhaps she doesn’t believe in love. She put everything on one card and lost.
“I am my own worst enemy. I hate myself,” she will say in her heart.
In her album “30” there are no romantic illusions, only pain and the search for a new self. And at concerts there is always a place reserved for her main audience and main man – her beloved son.
Castles in the air have collapsed, but Adele cannot be called weak and lost. Fifteen Grammys, an Oscar and a Golden Globe. Worldwide recognition. Luxurious houses and apartments. The British icon is famous not only for her Bond soundtracks, but also for her incredibly emotional and sensual songs about love, separation, pain and acceptance. Masterpieces such as “Make You Feel My Love” or “Set Fire to the Rain” give goosebumps to millions of fans around the world. And liters and liters of tears were shed under “Hello”.
Yes, her first attempt to build a family from childhood fantasies failed, but it did not break her. She and Simon parted on a friendly note, and Adele herself speaks of him with gratitude and love. They are both actively involved in raising their son and have not said a single bad word about each other since the breakup.
Adele has healed her broken heart again and has already fallen in love again – the singer is dating basketball player Rich Paul. And in February 2023, it became known about their engagement. Who knows, maybe the second time will be a happy one for Adele? And the girl who believed in love so much has finally found her “happily ever after.”
