Adele is opening up to fans about her experiences with therapy.
According to multiple press reports and video footage, the British singer got candid about mental health during her Friday, Dec. 9 night performance as part of her “Weekends with Adele” residency in Las Vegas. The Grammy winner told concert-goers that she has “started having therapy again.”
“I went a few years not having it,” she added, per the Independent.
The 34-year-old went on to share that she had previously sought out therapy amid her divorce from ex-husband Simon Konecki. Adele filed for divorce in 2019, and the former couple — who share 10-year-old son Angelo — finalized the marital split in March 2021. She is now dating sports agent Rich Paul.
“Before, obviously, when I was going through my divorce, I was like, basically in like five therapy sessions a day,” she told fans with a laugh.
The “Hello” singer shared that in undergoing therapy she had “stopped holding myself accountable for my own behavior and the things I would say and it’s because I would always fall back on my therapist,” joking about how she and her therapist would rationalize why she was acting a certain way, saying things like, “because when you were 10 this happened.”
“I needed to just hold myself accountable for it,” she admitted.
But that experience hasn’t put her off from resuming resumed therapy; it’s just changed her intentions.
“Now I am doing it because I just want to make sure I’m topping myself up every week to make sure I can give you everything,” she said.
Adele revealed that she and her current therapist have been discussing the stress she typically feels about doing live shows, noting that she tends to get “emotional.”
“I love making music, but there is something about performing live that actually terrifies me and fills me with dread normally,” she said. “That is why I am not a big touring artist. I did it last time to prove I could do it. But this experience of being in a room this size, I think I might be a live artist for the rest of my life.”
Though she acknowledged that she feels a lot of pressure to be perfect, Adele is learning to let some of that go and just bask in the support she gets from her audiences.
“if my voice ain’t top-notch that’s alright, but my soul is top-notch, I’ll tell you that — that’s what I try to say to my therapist,” she said to cheers before adding that the “human interaction” she gets from her weekend shows has made her the “happiest I’ve ever ever ever ever been.”
Adele — who also offered well wishes to fellow singer Céline Dion following her announcement that she has stiff person syndrome — has previously spoken about the heartache she experienced during her divorce.
“It made me really sad,” she told Rolling Stone of the separation. “Then having so many people that I don’t know know that I didn’t make that work … it f***ing devastated me. I was embarrassed. No one made me feel embarrassed, but you feel like you didn’t do a good job.”
During that time, the newly single star focused on her mental health, which included sound baths, meditation and “a lot of therapy,” according to her interview with Vogue last year. She has also credited her new gym routine with not only changing her body but helping her heal mentally.
“I realized that when I was working out, I didn’t have any anxiety,” she told the magazine. “It was never about losing weight. I thought, If I can make my body physically strong, and I can feel that and see that, then maybe one day I can make my emotions and my mind physically strong.”
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