“I was body positive then and I’m body positive now.”
Adele is speaking out on the public’s reaction to her 100-pound weight loss.
During a sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey as part of Sunday’s “Adele One Night Only” CBS concert special, the singer reflected on her weight loss transformation, opening up about what inspired the change and her thoughts on how fans reacted.
As she has previously shared, Adele, 33, began working out to help with her anxiety. However, the Grammy winner revealed to Oprah that her severe anxiety stemmed from her divorce and resulted in “terrifying” panic attacks.
“I had the most terrifying anxiety attacks after I left my marriage,” explained Adele, who filed for divorce from Simon Konecki in 2019. “They paralyzed me completely, and made me so confused because I wouldn’t be able to have any control over my body.”
The “Easy on Me” singer — who noted that in the past she “worked out a bit” for her back –detailed how going to the gym ultimately helped her mentally.
“I started to notice … how much I trusted my trainer and his presence when I was feeling so lost, but also that I didn’t have any anxiety when I was with him at the gym,” she recalled. “So then I started to pick it up every day, and then I had nothing else to do.”
“It became my time,” she continued, explaining how having a daily “plan” to work out when she had “no plans” was beneficial. “Having these sort of pins in my day helped me keep myself together.”
While Adele stressed that she wasn’t trying to lose weight, she said the process “definitely, really contributed towards me getting my mind right.” She added, “It gave me real purpose.”
The “Hello” singer went on to discuss the public’s reaction to her weight loss and addressed those who were critical of her transformation.
“I [wasn’t] shocked or even phased by it because my body has been objectified my entire career,” she explained. “Am I too big or am I too small, am I the hot or am I the not whatever — I never looked up to anyone because of their body. I never admired anyone because they had the same hair color as me or the same style as me.”
“Or were the same weight as you,” Oprah said, chiming in, to which Adele replied, “Never. Never ever ever.”
“I was body positive then and I’m body positive now,” she said, before hitting back at the critics. “But it’s not my job to validate how people feel about their bodies. And I feel bad that it’s made anyone feel horrible about themselves but it’s not my job. I’m trying to sort [my] own life out.”
“My weight might fluctuate now that I can’t work out as much,” she added. “I don’t care if I put on weight. I don’t care if I lose it again. It’s not about that.”
Adele said her only concern is keeping her “muscle memory,” noting that lifting weights is her “favorite place to be.” The “Rolling In the Deep” singer revealed at her “peak” fitness level last summer she was deadlifting 160 or 170 pounds.
After she said that has to eat “quite a lot of food to lift” the amount of weight she lifts, Oprah asked the Oscar winner what she likes to eat.
“I had Chinese last night,” Adele shared. “We found the best McDonald’s recently. It’s piping hot every time. No, I do [eat]. I love it. I ain’t got much of a sweet tooth though.”
Ending the particular segment of the interview, Adele noted that she’s also a “very good boxer.”
“I got a left hook that could kill ya.”
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