Adele is happily in a relationship with professional sports agent Rich Paul. Before that, she was married to entrepreneur Simon Konecki for three years (2018-2021) after dating for nearly a decade and welcoming their only son, Angelo.
Adele and Simon filed for divorce in 2019 – just a year after tying the knot – and finalized the divorce in 2021, where the couple decided to share custody of their son and waived the right to seek spousal support, per USA Today.
Having split before their son even turned 10, Adele initially struggled to try and help her child understand why his parents were no longer together.
Months after their divorce was finalized and the custody legalities were sorted out, Adele talked with Vogue about how she handled co-parenting with her ex.
“I was just going through the motions and I wasn’t happy,” she said regarding her and Simon’s reason to split. “Neither of us did anything wrong. Neither of us hurt each other or anything like that. It was just: I want my son to see me really love, and be loved. It’s really important to me.”
“I’ve been on my journey to find my true happiness ever since [I filed for divorce],” she added.
The “Rumor Has It” singer explained that, at first, it was hard to recognize that Angelo wanted to know more and talk with her to get through his own grief of having divorced parents.
“Sometimes, with my own son, he could talk to me in a certain way, and I shut down,” she admitted. “With my own f–king child. I’ll take it so to heart, what he’s saying, when actually what he’s saying is, ‘No, I don’t want to go to bed.’”
Adele really struggled to justify her own desires to that of her son, who just wanted a functioning household with two parents that loved each other.
“If I can reach the reason why I left, which was the pursuit of my own happiness, even though it made Angelo really unhappy—if I can find that happiness and he sees me in that happiness, then maybe I’ll be able to forgive myself for it,” she reasoned.
Despite doing her best to spare her son of the pain he was feeling, he understood, to a certain extent, what his mother was going through and he let her know how that was affecting him, as well.
“He said to my face [when he was six and a half years old], ‘Can you see me?’ And I was like, ‘Uh, yeah.’ And he was like, ‘Cause I can’t see you,’” she remembered. “Well, my whole life fell apart in that moment. He knew I wasn’t there.”
It was then that she decided that having open conversations with Angelo about why she and his father weren’t together anymore was how she would help both of them heal.
“He has so many simple questions for me that I can’t answer, because I don’t know the answer,” she admitted. “Like: ‘Why can’t we still live together?’ That’s just not what people do when they get divorced. ‘But why not?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t f–king know. That’s not what society does.’ And: ‘Why don’t you love my dad anymore?’ And I’d be like, ‘I do love your dad. I’m just not in love.’ I can’t make that make sense to a nine-year-old.”
To help try and keep the family close, Simon moved into the house across the street from Adele and they continued to spend a lot of time together with their son, even regularly having family movie nights.
As a musician, Adele also used her songwriting capabilities as a way to translate her feelings into the medium she understands best, writing a song titled “My Little Love” for her son which was featured on her most recent album, 30.
She hopes that when he’s older, he’ll understand why she and Simon couldn’t stay together.
Sources:
https://www.vogue.com/article/adele-cover-november-2021
https://www.today.com/popculture/music/adele-opens-divorce-affected-son-angelo-8-rcna2725
