Adele has spoken out about the 'brutal' backlash she received from fans after cancelling her run of shows in Las Vegas, as she says she became a 'shell of a person' for months.
The 34-year-old singer songwriter was set to perform a string of concerts at Caesars Palace from January to April this year, but she called them off at short notice.
Announcing the news to her devastated fans, Adele shared an emotional video on social media explaining that the show wouldn't be ready in time because of various delays due to Covid-19.
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Adele said: "We t ried absolutely everything we can to put it together in time. Half my team, half my crew are down with COVID and it’s been impossible to finish the show.
“I’m so upset and I’m really embarrassed and I’m so sorry to everyone that’s travelled again. I’m really really sorry."
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Adele has now said that she 'definitely felt everyone’s disappointment' following the announcement and had been 'devastated' by the unexpected series of unfortunate events, reports the Mirror.
She told host Lauren Laverne: "I was frightened about letting them down and I thought I could pull it together and make it work, and I couldn’t.
“I stand by that decision. I don’t think any other artist would have done what I did, and I think that is why it was such a massive, massive story.
“It was like, ‘I don’t care’ and things like that. You can’t buy me. You can’t buy me for nothing. I’m not going to just do a show because I have to or because people are going to be let down or because we are going to lose loads of money. I’m like, ‘The show is not good enough’."
She continued: “Of course I could be someone on TikTok or Instagram Live every day being like, ‘I am working on it’. Of course I am working on it. I’m not going to update you if I haven’t got anything to update you with, because that just leads to more disappointment.
“Maybe that’s not been well balanced either … Maybe my silence has been deadly. I don’t know.
“But it was horrible and the reaction was brutal. I was a shell of a person for a couple of months.”
Asked how she dealt with the fall-out from the announcement, she said: “I just had to wait it out and just grieve it. Just grieve the shows and get over the guilt. But it was brutal.”
Adele features on Desert Island Discs the same weekend she plays two sold-out concerts as part of the British Summer Time festival in London’s Hyde Park.
She also addressed her relationship with her alcoholic father, Mark Evans, who she was estranged from but reconciled with shortly before his death from cancer in 2021.
She said: “When I found out that he was ill a few years ago, I got the call and I drove straight there. It was hard but it was definitely one of the biggest moments of my life in a good way, when I went to go and see him.
“I made the peace with him when I found out he was sick. And we really got on, which was amazing, but also sad because he was really bloody funny.
“He is really funny and I don’t remember that when I was little. But it was really nice. We laughed and we gossiped and we cried. It was great for both of us.”
Asked about what she wants from life, the singer, who already shares son Angelo with her ex-husband Simon Konecki, said she wants more children with her boyfriend, American sports agent Rich Paul.
She said: “I definitely would like a couple more kids. It would be wonderful if we can. If not, I have got Angelo. I just want to be happy.”
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