Adele on leaving Simon Konecki: Without someone to blame

Adele 2016 · Marc E. / marcen27
CC BY 2.0 · Cropped for display.

Neither of us did anything wrong.

Adele, Vogue, October 2021

Adele said that in her 2021 interview about her divorce from Simon Konecki. Years earlier, she had credited him with helping her through recovery from surgery.

If you have ever tried to explain being unhappy with someone people like, you may know where the conversation catches. You mention the difficulty. Someone reminds you how good he was when you needed him. You remember that too. It may be one of the reasons you have found this so hard to say.

The man who was there

In Jonathan Van Meter's 2012 Vogue profile, Simon arrived at Adele's photo shoot and spent time with her during breaks. He was introduced as her new boyfriend. Adele spoke about his pride in her and his indifference to the attention around her work. She credited his support during her recovery.

It is a small, affectionate glimpse, before a wedding or a separation announcement.

Perhaps you know the relief of coming home to someone who isn't waiting to be impressed. You can be tired, quiet, off duty. You can talk about the meeting that went badly without feeling you have let him down.

A family with a life out of view

By Hamish Bowles's 2016 Vogue interview, the picture had grown to include their son, Angelo. Adele described motherhood as her first priority. She had taken time away from work to be with her family. The interview describes her wish to keep the relationship private, while also identifying Water Under the Bridge as a song about Simon.

She could talk about her family while keeping parts of it out of her work.

There may be a story you stop halfway through telling a friend, remembering that it belongs to him as well as you. A private joke can stay private. Some of the life you share can belong to the two of you.

The marriage people thought they knew

Adele called Simon her husband at the 2017 Grammys. British Vogue also reported her speaking of being married in Brisbane that March. In her 2021 interview with Giles Hattersley, she explained that she had used husband because they had a child together. The wedding was actually in 2018. She said she left not long afterward, without specifying the interval.

Someone may still have your wedding photograph on the mantelpiece when you begin trying to tell them about a change. To them, that day may look like the moment everything was settled. You have lived the days after it.

The announcement came after the private change

Representatives announced the separation on April 19, 2019, and their commitment to raising their son together. TIME reported it the following day. The statement did not date the private breakup.

Adele later told British Vogue that they had kept the breakup to themselves for a long time, taking time because a child was involved. Even when she was ready to speak about it, she kept some details private.

Telling a friend can mean answering a question you have asked yourself a hundred times. They may be hearing about it over their first cup of coffee. You may have been awake with it for months.

What did Adele say about her divorce from Simon Konecki?

In Abby Aguirre's October 2021 Vogue interview, Adele described going through the motions and being unhappy. She wanted her son to see her love and be loved. She said neither of them had done anything wrong.

Her account did not erase the earlier care. It also did not offer Simon's own explanation of the ending.

For someone struggling to say what she wants to be different, that distinction may matter. Describing a difficulty needn't turn into a case against every year spent together. The words can be about what is happening now.

In that same 2021 British Vogue interview, Adele described choosing Simon as her child's father as one of her proudest decisions. She had left the marriage. Her account of leaving still had room for that pride.