‘He said it was a business meeting!’ Adele reveals how ‘hilarious’ new boyfriend Rich Paul got her to go on a date and says their relationship is the first time she ‘loved herself’
- The two-hour special features a special performance by the singer from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles
- She performs her first new songs in six years, from her forthcoming album 30, which is set for release on November 19
- The singer also opens up about her personal life in an exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey
- She discusses life after her split from Simon Konecki, who she split with in March 2021 after more than three years of marriage
- Adele also opens up about raising her nine-year-old son Angelo, who will be seeing his mother perform for the first time during the special
Adele has finally discussed her relationship with sports agent Rich Paul on her CBS special Adele One Night Only, saying the relationship is the first time she has ‘loved herself.’
The two-hour special featured footage from a concert she gave at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles – in front of a star-studded audience – and footage from Oprah Winfrey’s wide-ranging interview with the 33-year-old singer.
She revealed during the interview that they met at a birthday party, and he’s both ‘hilarious’ and very smart – before adding he got her to go on a date with him by saying it was a ‘business meeting’.
Opening up: Adele is finally opening up about her relationship with sports agent Rich Paul on her CBS special Adele One Night Only
Hilarious: She revealed during the interview that they met at a birthday party, and he’s both ‘hilarious’ and very smart
She added that she met him on the dance floor at the party, and when asked what drew her to him, she said, ‘Yeah, he’s just hilarious. Oh, he’s so funny. Yeah, and very smart,’ she said.
‘And I met him and then a couple of– couple years later, we went out for dinner, which he says was a business meeting,’ Adele said with a laugh.
‘I’m like, a business meeting about what? We wouldn’t be having a meeting about business. And then 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,’ she added.
Dance floor: She added that she met him on the dance floor at the party, and when asked what drew her to him, she said, ‘Yeah, he’s just hilarious. Oh, he’s so funny. Yeah, and very smart,’ she said
Business: ‘And I met him and then a couple of– couple years later, we went out for dinner, which he says was a business meeting,’ Adele said with a laugh
She added it’s ‘quite incredible watching him do what he does. And just the easiness of it,’ and he’s making the relationship, ‘easy’ for her.
When Oprah asked if Rich is getting a ‘different Adele’ than others have gotten, the singer responded, ‘Yeah, but I mean, by arriving and turning up.’
‘You know, maybe I’m getting a different version of him and who knows? It’s just, it’s just timing. It’s just timing, but it’ll be interesting to see what my reaction is like in general to anything that hurts me now that I feel so secure in myself,’ she added.
Incredible: She added it’s ‘quite incredible watching him do what he does. And just the easiness of it,’ and he’s making the relationship, ‘easy’ for her
Version: ‘You know, maybe I’m getting a different version of him and who knows? It’s just, it’s just timing. It’s just timing, but it’ll be interesting to see what my reaction is like in general to anything that hurts me now that I feel so secure in myself,’ she added
Now that she’s in a happy place with her live, Oprah asked if she thinks she’ll be able to write new music in this place.
‘Well, I hope so. I hope so, you know,’ she said, as Oprah asked about the final track of her album, Love Is a Game, when she asked if she was getting better at the game of love.
‘Yeah, I think so because I don’t, I don’t, um, I don’t treat it like a game anymore. You know, that thing of like, you’re gonna hurt me so I’m gonna hurt you first. I certainly, I’m not like that anymore,’ she said.
Special: Adele belts out new songs for the first time in six years and opens up about her personal life in the two-hour CBS primetime special Adele One Night Only
New songs: The 33-year-old singer performs new songs from her highly-anticipated album 30 from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles on the Sunday night special
No game: ‘Yeah, I think so because I don’t, I don’t, um, I don’t treat it like a game anymore. You know, that thing of like, you’re gonna hurt me so I’m gonna hurt you first. I certainly, I’m not like that anymore,’ she said
The special begins with Oprah Winfrey introducing the special from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.
‘She’s singing all the songs I know you want to hear, and new songs we’ve all been waiting six years for. And throughout the night, you’ll see my conversation with Adele was so much fun. She’s as real, as down to Earth as we all believe she is,’ Oprah says.
She introduces the 15-time Grammy winning icon, as the singer comes out in a glamorous black dress before singing her hit song Hello, outside of the Griffith Observatory in front of an intimate audience.
Oprah: The special begins with Oprah Winfrey introducing the special from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles
The audience gives her a standing ovation at the Griffith Observatory, before cutting to the first interview segment from Oprah’s Rose Garden.
‘I don’t really say Hello anymore, because it’s like a joke,’ Adele says.
When Oprah mentions that she opened with Hello, Adele says that she thinks she will always have to open with Hello.
Standing ovation: The audience gives her a standing ovation at the Griffith Observatory, before cutting to the first interview segment from Oprah’s Rose Garden
‘I think it’d be weird if it was, like, halfway through a set. You know? So yeah, I’m starting with it,’ she said, as Oprah mentions the music video for Hello has been viewed 3 billion times, which Adel wasn’t aware of.
‘The song to me was the beginning of me trying to find myself and I haven’t figured out yet what it was that I had to do for that,’ she said of her hit song.
‘But when I wrote it, it was a real ode to, like, little me, older me. Like, all of these things, like, you know, so, it’s just a song about, like, I’m still here. You know, sort of like, ‘Hi, I’m still here. I still exist, like, you know, in every aspect of my life,’ Adele adds.
Weird: ‘I think it’d be weird if it was, like, halfway through a set. You know? So yeah, I’m starting with it,’ she said, as Oprah mentions the music video for Hello has been viewed 3 billion times, which Adel wasn’t aware of
Oprah adds that her new album 30 felt like she, ‘literally opened up your soul,’ as Adele adds music is catharsis for her.
‘You know, when I’m singing and when I’m writing, like… And I was kind of aware of that on the other albums, but this one, you know, a lot more I-I felt it because everything was happening in real time. I was writing my album, you know, while I was -going through everything. But I don’t think as a person I have what my singing has,’ she said.
‘I just think there’s-there’s something I’m pulling from somewhere else. I don’t, I don’t have some– you know, something else from underneath. I don’t know what it is. It’s coming up through me but it’s not… I don’t know how I access it. It’s wild ’cause I don’t think I’m that deep in real life,’ she said.
New album: Oprah adds that her new album 30 felt like she, ‘literally opened up your soul,’ as Adele adds music is catharsis for her
Oprah mentions how she read something about giving herself permission to ‘fall apart,’ and that’s why people are so connected to her music.
‘I think the reason I’m so brave to do it, you know, in my career so far was because, again, music helped me in any situations and I would like to do, you know, the same for people that feel so alone when they’re feeling something. To be reminded that they’re not alone…
‘And in terms of now, you know, there were moments when I was writing the record or I would listen back to something and be like, ‘That might be a bit too private’…
‘That might be a bit too, you know, too about myself and stuff to put out,’ but nothing is as scary as what I’ve been through over the last two, three years behind closed doors,’ she said.
Permission: Oprah mentions how she read something about giving herself permission to ‘fall apart,’ and that’s why people are so connected to her music
It cuts back to her concert, as she gives a shout-out to Lizzo in the crowd, as we see other celebs such as Gabrielle Union and Dwayne Wade, Seth Rogen, James Corden before singing her first new song of the night, Easy On Me, which earns her a standing ovation from the celebrity-filled audience including Leonardo DiCaprio.
Adele then breaks into her Oscar-winning theme song for the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall, as we get a glimpse of more celebrities such as Donald Glover in attendance.
The next interview segment follows Oprah asking about her ‘all-consuming pain,’ and Adele says she was ‘obsessed’ with a nuclear family because she didn’t have one.
‘You know, it’s in all these movies and all these books, like, you know, and you grow up reading them like that’s what -it should be, like, you know. And… I just from a very young age, just, you know, promised myself that when I had kids that we’d stay together, we would be that united family,’ she said, referencing her divorce from Simon Konecki.
Skyfall: Adele then breaks into her Oscar-winning theme song for the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall, as we get a glimpse of more celebrities such as Donald Glover in attendance
Family: The next interview segment follows Oprah asking about her ‘all-consuming pain,’ and Adele says she was ‘obsessed’ with a nuclear family because she didn’t have one
‘I tried for a really, really long time and then, um, I was just so disappointed for my son. I was so disappointed for myself. And I was just, I thought I was going to be the one that, you know, stopped doing those bloody patterns all the time,’ Adele added.
When asked if 30 was her ‘divorce album,’ she said she thinks she’s ‘divorcing myself.’
‘So, it’s lonely, you know. I spent a lot of time on my own, really sitting in my feelings and not keeping myself busy. I used to always– if a feeling came up, I’d distract myself or I’d call a friend, and be like, ‘Do you wanna go out? -What do you wanna do?’ she said.
Divorce: When asked if 30 was her ‘divorce album,’ she said she thinks she’s ‘divorcing myself’
She added that she stopped drinking during her divorce, which she added was a ‘great way of sort of getting to know yourself.’
She added she was ‘fascinated’ with alcohol, because it ‘took my dad from me.’
‘But you know, after– once I realized that I had a lot of work to do on myself, yeah, I stopped drinking and I started working out lots and stuff like that to keep me sort of centered,’ she said.
No drinking: She added that she stopped drinking during her divorce, which she added was a ‘great way of sort of getting to know yourself’
When asked if there was a particular moment when she knew the relationship wasn’t working, she added, ‘I do remember one of my friends, we were all– we were answering these questions -in this very bougie magazine. And it was, 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, I’m not living. I’m just plodding along.’
‘When I admitted to my own friends, who thought I was really happy, that actually I’m really unhappy, and they all gasped. Like, you know, I feel like it was sort of from there that I was like, ‘What am I doing? What am I doing it for?’ You know? But I think it was just, by us getting married, us having our wedding,
She added she was ’embarrassed’ that she could make their marriage work after just three years, adding she felt like she was ‘disrespecting’ the sanctity of marriage by divorcing.
Moment: When asked if there was a particular moment when she knew the relationship wasn’t working, she added, ‘I do remember one of my friends, we were all– we were answering these questions -in this very bougie magazine. And it was, 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, I’m not living. I’m just plodding along’
Still, she thinks her ex-husband Simon, ‘probably saved my life,’ adding, ‘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, like, 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. Like, you know, and I think I probably, I could have easily gone down some dodgy paths, like, you know? And sort of self-destructed from-from sort of like being so overwhelmed by all of it. And he-he came in and was stable. The most stable person I’ve ever had in my life up until that point. Even– you know, even now I trust him with my life,’ she said.
She added that she felt like Simon and their nine-year-old son Angelo, ‘were angels sent to me, that’s how I feel.’
Life-saver: Still, she thinks her ex-husband Simon, ‘probably saved my life,’ adding, ‘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, like, especially at that time in my life
Oprah asked about a moment where her son, at six years old, asked her, ‘Why don’t you love Daddy anymore?’
‘Yeah, that was really hard as well, and trying to explain to, like, a six-year-old at the time, obviously, um, that I do love him, I’m just not in love with him. Makes absolutely no sense to a six-year-old. Like, you know? So there were so many answers I just couldn’t give him ’cause there aren’t any really. Like, you know, that he would understand, but he sees that I still love his dad,’ she said.
Adele added they still live across the street from one another and sometimes they just talk when Angelo isn’t there.
Moment: Oprah asked about a moment where her son, at six years old, asked her, ‘Why don’t you love Daddy anymore?’
Talk: Adele added they still live across the street from one another and sometimes they just talk when Angelo isn’t there
Oprah asked how Simon feels about this album about their relationship and divorce coming out, as she added, ‘he knows what kind of artist I am, like, and, you know, that I got to– I have to dig deep and tell my stories.’
She then performed her second new song of the night, I Drink Wine, as the sun started to set over the Griffith Observatory.
She reveals the next song is a ‘golden oldie’ and its the first time she’s sung this song since, ‘everything went down,’ as she starts performing Someone Like You, which leads to a standing ovation from the crowd.
I Drink Wine: She then performed her second new song of the night, I Drink Wine, as the sun started to set over the Griffith Observatory
The singer then breaks into another one of her classic tunes, When We Were Young, as photos from her childhood are projected over the Griffith Observatory.
Adele jokes that her outfit is a bit like the movie Death Becomes Her, adding, ‘Death Becomes Her. Sometimes I’m Hel and sometimes I’m Mad, you know.’
She added that the event was the first time her son Angelo has seen her perform, adding, ‘it’s the absolute honor of my life, baby, to have you here tonight. And you look so beautiful, and so handsome and smart.’
Young: The singer then breaks into another one of her classic tunes, When We Were Young, as photos from her childhood are projected over the Griffith Observatory
Back to the interview segment, Oprah said that so many women will feel ‘liberated’ because of her story, as Adele revealed she wanted to bring a ‘happy version of myself to my son.’
‘I think it’s as loving as doing that for the kids by leaving and-and, you know, finding your own happiness so that they really know who you are. But I’m still not fully over it, of me choosing to dismantle my child’s life -for my own,’ Adele adds
She said the thought of it still, ‘makes me very uncomfortable’ and it makes her feel ‘selfish’ but she was ignoring herself for a long time.
Uncomfortable: She said the thought of it still, ‘makes me very uncomfortable’ and it makes her feel ‘selfish’ but she was ignoring herself for a long time
She added the new album 30 is dedicated to her son and she wanted him to hear her, ‘talking mad– madly deeply, about who I am and how I feel, like, you know. And I don’t know if I’d ever be able to have that conversation with him in real life, so therefore he can go and listen to it.’
When asked if her son knows that she’s Adele, she commented, ‘No, apart from the other day, he watched the ‘Easy on Me’ video– like countdown to when it premiered. And, um, he was like, ‘There was, like, 150,000 people waiting,’ and, like, blah-blah-blah. And he was like, ‘You had all these likes.’ And then he read the comments and then… He was like, ‘People really like you.’ Like, so he’s-he’s starting
Adele tells the crowd that she has a big surprise for a lovely guy named Quentin, who Quentin has been with his girlfriend Ashley for seven years.
Son: She added the new album 30 is dedicated to her son and she wanted him to hear her, ‘talking mad– madly deeply, about who I am and how I feel, like, you know. And I don’t know if I’d ever be able to have that conversation with him in real life, so therefore he can go and listen to it’
Surprise: Adele tells the crowd that she has a big surprise for a lovely guy named Quentin, who Quentin has been with his girlfriend Ashley for seven years
‘Seven years is, like, normally like, you know, you either say yes or you say no to, like, life together. Seven-year itch. She’s a chef– she’s a vegan chef. She’s always at work, but tonight Quentin told Ashley that they were having a date night and so we’re going to make that date night really, really memorable,’ Adele told the crowd.
‘So now, earlier today Ashley and Quentin were picked up in a car. And they came to this park, to Griffith Park, and at the bottom of the hill down there they’ve been having a beautiful picnic pretty much all day. Quentin told Ashley that he’s planned a small surprise to celebrate the fact that she just got her first big catering job,’ she added.
She tells the crowd to be incredibly quiet or she’ll ‘kill them’ as Quentin brings Ashley out in front of the stage.
Stage: She tells the crowd to be incredibly quiet or she’ll ‘kill them’ as Quentin brings Ashley out in front of the stage
Quentin brings his girlfriend Ashley onto the stage and takes her blindfold off as Quentin is on one knee for her and ultimately proposes to her.
‘Who are these people?’ she says through tears as he finally proposes and the lights come up and Adele comes on stage, as Ashley is in shock, sitting between Lizzo and Melissa McCarthy.
Adele says, ‘Thank God she said yes, ’cause I didn’t know who I was going to have to sing this song to next, you or him. Oh, my God, look at her– she’s so in shock.’
Propose: Quentin brings his girlfriend Ashley onto the stage and takes her blindfold off as Quentin is on one knee for her and ultimately proposes to her
Seat: ‘Who are these people?’ she says through tears as he finally proposes and the lights come up and Adele comes on stage, as Ashley is in shock, sitting between Lizzo and Melissa McCarthy
Shock: Adele says, ‘Thank God she said yes, ’cause I didn’t know who I was going to have to sing this song to next, you or him. Oh, my God, look at her– she’s so in shock’
She starts singing Make You Feel My Love as Ashley keeps crying throughout the song, with Adele commenting between verses, ‘She’s crying her eyes out.’
The next interview segment focuses on her 100-pound weight loss over two years, but she said it wasn’t even about the weight.
‘It was about my anxiety mainly. I had the most terrifying anxiety attacks after I left my marriage. They’d paralyze me completely and made me so confused because I wouldn’t be able to have any control over my body,’ she said.
Crying: She starts singing Make You Feel My Love as Ashley keeps crying throughout the song, with Adele commenting between verses, ‘She’s crying her eyes out’
Weight loss: The next interview segment focuses on her 100-pound weight loss over two years, but she said it wasn’t even about the weight
‘But I knew that I-I was aware of it all happening. It was like I was still very much there while my whole body was just, like, on another planet it felt like, you know? And I’ve always worked out a bit. You know, a couple times a week for my back.
She started to realize that when she was with her trainer at the gym, she noticed, ‘that I didn’t have any anxiety when I was with him at the gym.’
‘I was and 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 I– that’s not my job and I-I can’t… I’m trying to sort my own life out,’ she said.
Whole body: ‘But I knew that I-I was aware of it all happening. It was like I was still very much there while my whole body was just, like, on another planet it felt like, you know? And I’ve always worked out a bit. You know, a couple times a week for my back
She added she doesn’t care if she loses or gains weight, and her favorite place to be is lifting weights, adding that she has gotten up to 160 pounds on her dead lift, and it started at 10 pounds.
She added that she’s also a very good boxer and she has a, ‘left hook that could kill you.’
Back in the rose garden, they talk about her new song Hold On, which goes to some very dark places, and when asked what she held on to, she said her friends would always say ‘Hold On’ when she was going through her divorce.
Boxer: She added that she’s also a very good boxer and she has a, ‘left hook that could kill you’
‘But it was just exhausting, trying to… To-to, like, keep going with it. It’s a process, you know; the process of a divorce; the process of, you know, being a single parent; the process of not seeing your child every single day wasn’t really a plan that I had when I, you know, when I, when I became a mum; um, the process of arriving for yourself every single day, turning up for yourself every single day and still running a home, running a business,’ she said.
‘Like, it’s, you know, so many people know what I’m talking about and it can– you know, I feel like that as well. I-I juggle those things as well. And it just– I felt like not doing it anymore, and also trying to, like, move forward, like… But, like, with intention, not just trying to get out of it for no reason. It made my feet hurt, walking through all of that concrete,’ she said.
‘I never, I never questioned whether I’d made a bad decision. I never ever did, which I’m very grateful for, that I never asked myself those questions. But it was just like maybe it would have been better had I just kept my mouth shut, you know, and carried on,’ she said, before it cuts back to Griffith Observatory as Adele sings Hold On for the first time in public.
Exhausting: ‘But it was just exhausting, trying to… To-to, like, keep going with it. It’s a process, you know; the process of a divorce; the process of, you know, being a single parent; the process of not seeing your child every single day wasn’t really a plan that I had when I, you know, when I, when I became a mum; um, the process of arriving for yourself every single day, turning up for yourself every single day and still running a home, running a business,’ she said
Back in the rose garden, Oprah asks what the ‘deep wound’ from her past she’s trying to heal, and she said it was her, ‘dad’s absolute lack of presence.’
‘But you know, as I got older, I definitely understood that it was the alcohol. It wasn’t a choice that he was necessarily making in himself that he didn’t want to step up for me. But when you’re little, you don’t know that,’ she said.
‘But yeah, like, when someone that you love so much, and the more that you feel like they don’t love you, you love them even more… Like, I was definitely always trying to fill that void….
‘But at the same time, I would expect it to hurt at some point. So I would hurt them first. You know, not in a malicious way. It wasn’t malicious, it was just like I had absolutely zero expectations of anybody,’ she said.
Deep wound: Back in the rose garden, Oprah asks what the ‘deep wound’ from her past she’s trying to heal, and she said it was her, ‘dad’s absolute lack of presence’
She added that they ultimately made their peace before he died earlier this year, adding, ‘When my dad died and we had our peace together, I felt that… That huge gaping hole fill, like, you know.’
She added she played him her new album over Zoom and they both cried and, ‘his favorites were all of my favorites, you know, which I thought was amazing and… He wished that he’d done what I had been doing. For myself, you know? Like, the journey.’
She added that her therapist suggested that she ‘speak’ with her seven-year-old self, and asked what she found.
Peace: She added that they ultimately made their peace before he died earlier this year, adding, ‘When my dad died and we had our peace together, I felt that… That huge gaping hole fill, like, you know.
‘A very sad little girl. She was sad but also, you know, she was willing. I said I wouldn’t stay in there,’ she said.
‘I’m sure I’ve got many more mountains to climb, that will come my way, and I’m sure I’ll have another little, like, you know, like swerve, you know, swerve out of the way for something and stuff like that, but… I feel like I’ll get better at it every time -something comes up. Every time,’ she said.
Back at the Griffith Observatory, Adele broke into her massive hit song Rolling In the Deep, which brought the crowd to their feet dancing.
When asked what she really wants, Adele said she just wants, ‘peace of mind,’ adding, ‘ I don’t have to expect someone else to give me stability. I can also be stable for myself. Be a solid house that doesn’t blow over in a storm.’
The final song of the night is the final track from her new album, Love Is a Game, as the special comes to an end.
Very sad: ‘A very sad little girl. She was sad but also, you know, she was willing. I said I wouldn’t stay in there,’ she said
Final song: The final song of the night is the final track from her new album, Love Is a Game, as the special comes to an end
New songs: She will also perform songs from her new album 30 such as I Drink Wine, Hold On and Love Is A Game, which will be heard for the first time ahead of the 30 album’s release on November 19
Thanks: The singer took to her Twitter on Sunday afternoon, before the special, where she raved about performing at the Griffith Observatory in L.A.
Thanks: She then thanked Oprah, ‘for allowing me to tell my truth lovingly in a safe space. The whole thing was pretty overwhelming, I’ve seen it twice and cried my eyes out both times
Singer/songwriter: The English singer/songwriter is one of the biggest-selling music artists. Her haul includes 15 Grammy Awards, 9 Brit Awards, an Academy Award and a Golden Globe
The English singer/songwriter is one of the biggest-selling music artists. Her haul includes 15 Grammy Awards, 9 Brit Awards, an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.
Her groundbreaking album 21 is the biggest-selling album of the 21st century.
She released the first single from her new album 30, Easy On Me, last week, ahead of the new album launching on November 19.
Biggest selling: The English singer/songwriter is one of the biggest-selling music artists. Her haul includes 15 Grammy Awards, 9 Brit Awards, an Academy Award and a Golden Globe
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