Along with that once-in-a-generation voice, Adele’s curves have been one of the defining features of her super-stardom. But, as breathtaking pictures from a Hollywood party have revealed, they are no longer an issue.
The London-born singer will never have to say she doesn’t care a jot about being fat — because she isn’t.
Adele showed off her svelte new figure at the 33rd birthday party of her American rapper friend Drake on Wednesday night, wearing a £1,160 off-the-shoulder black velvet gown.
There was a time, not so long ago, when the 31-year-old wouldn’t have dreamed of displaying so much flesh.
Singer Adele appeared this week with a svelte new figure (left) as she attended a party. She is pictured in 2013, right
The singer was pictured looking slim and athletic in a stunning black gown to mark Drake’s birthday
‘I used to cry but now I sweat,’ she joked later on social media, amid claims she has lost 3 st.
So how did she do it? And, given her previous insistence that she was proud of her appearance, why did she do it?
A new diet, a new exercise regime, a new group of glamorous (and skinny) celebrity friends and her new single status since her marriage break-up may all have contributed to the singer’s stunning transformation . . .
Mother of all health kicks
In truth, Adele has been building towards this transformation moment for some years, in part because of motherhood.
She gave up smoking, which she once described as ‘my favourite thing to do in the world’, several years ago after a course of hypnotherapy.
Adele is pictured smoking outside a London spa 10 years ago
‘I loved it, but it’s not that cool when I’m dying from a smoking-related illness and my kid is, like, devastated,’ she said.
The same has been true of drinking. Four years ago, she claimed she had cut down to perhaps a drink a week.
‘I used to be able to drink anyone under the table,’ she said. ‘But with kids, hangovers are torture. They just pick up on it and go for you.’
Adele had previously loved a pint (pictured above in 2008)
Her major wake-up call
In the past, Adele has insisted she doesn’t care about how she looks. ‘I have never been insecure, ever, about how I look,’ she told the Mail in 2009. ‘My mum told me only ever to do things for myself, not for others.’
She sounded equally bullish three years later when she told a U.S. magazine: ‘I’ve never wanted to look like models on the covers of magazines. I represent the majority of women and am proud of that.’
In fact, she believed her size had contributed to her success, rather than detracted from it.
‘Fans are encouraged that I’m not a size zero — that you don’t have to look a certain way to do well,’ she told Vogue a decade ago when she appeared as its cover star.
In the past few years, she admitted she did have ‘body image problems’ but insisted: ‘I don’t let them rule my life’. After all, she reasoned: ‘There’s only one of you, so why would you want to look like everyone else?’
It appears she has since decided it would be better for her health if she shed a few pounds. In 2016, she was back on the cover of Vogue but explaining: ‘I was trying to get some stamina for my tour, so I lost a bit of weight.’
The singer who once scoffed at the notion that she would ever fit into the standard mould of the showbusiness star certainly looks like one now.
Reluctant gym bunny
Like many other British performers, Adele has sounded uncomfortable with the narcissism of the gym-obsessed mindset of U.S. celebrity. She’s dismissed the notion that she had much of an exercise regime, conceding she did visit the gym ‘to get in shape for myself, but not to be a size zero’.
Asked about what she did there, she said: ‘Mainly moan.’
She added: ‘I’m not, like, skipping to the f****** gym. I don’t enjoy it.’
She conceded she did like doing weights, but revealed that blood vessels burst in her face easily, which puts her off straining them by lifting anything too heavy. She has discovered there are other, less blood vessel-bursting, ways of shifting the pounds.
She hired a personal trainer, Pete Geracimo, left, whose clients have included David Hasselhoff and Kim Cattrall. He persuaded her to combine weight-lifting with cardiovascular exercise to ensure she looked curvy rather than muscly.
In July, it was reported she was doing 60-minute sessions that include cardio workouts, circuit training and Pilates.
‘She’s found a routine that’s working for her and is enjoying it more,’ said a source.
A month earlier, when she showed off her new, trimmer figure at a Spice Girls concert in London, it emerged she had started practising Reformer Pilates — a machine-aided version of the exercise system — in London after being introduced to it by close friend Ayda Field, the wife of former Take That star Robbie Williams and a known exercise junkie.
Somewhat agonising but effective in improving posture and flexibility, Reformer classes use a bed-like frame with a flat platform which rolls backwards and forwards. It’s great for toning the figure and strengthening the core.
Another fan, the Duchess of Sussex, once called Reformer Pilates ‘the best thing you could do for your body’.
Her weight loss is thought to have something to do with her personal trainer Peter Geracimo (above)
Mixing with the skinny set
It wasn’t long ago that Adele scoffed at the very notion of being a superstar, saying she was sure she’d always feel ‘overwhelmed’ and out of place in the presence of A-list celebrities — a feeling she attributed to her humble roots in working class North London.
Mindful of what happened to fellow Londoner Amy Winehouse, she said she was ‘really frightened’ of fame, adding: ‘I think it’s really toxic, and I think it’s really easy to be dragged into it.’
Swapping cakes for kale
Adele insists she lost two stone by cutting out the ten cups of tea — each sweetened with two spoonfuls of sugar — that she drank every day, as well as junk food and biscuits.
Since 2016, she has also adopted the Sirtfood Diet.
Her new diet focuses on plant-based foods
The diet is based on stimulating sirtuins, the so-called ‘longevity genes’.
It cuts down on meat, and focuses on plant-based food such as apples, kale, buckwheat and green tea.
Was her consciousness of her size also holding her back? Certainly, her new look coincides with her having gained a bevvy of skinny new famous friends, which suggests that she has lost her shyness in their company.
They include Hollywood stars Emma Stone, Kate Hudson, Cameron Diaz, and Jennifer Lawrence.
Adele joined the Hunger Games star and face of Dior for a riotous night out in New York on the actress’s hen night. Insiders say Lawrence — who, like Adele, loves to let her hair down — has become a huge inspiration to Adele and this could be seen in April when the latter appeared looking completely transformed during a visit to Manhattan.
She was perfectly made up and wearing a £3,000 Balenciaga coat and gold-capped designer heels. She had even had platinum blonde streaks put into her hair — just like her friend.
Lawrence is a tough act to follow, and entailed Adele sharpening up her act on the diet and exercise fronts.
Indeed, Adele is not only surrounded by slim friends, but friends who are fixated with staying that way.
One of these, of course, is Ayda Field, whose husband Robbie Williams has had his own issues with his weight, and is a brand ambassador for Weight Watchers, as is Kate Hudson, actress daughter of Goldie Hawn.
Fuelling a fashion frenzy
There will be one group of people who will be particularly delighted by Adele’s new slimmer look — fashion designers. She has had style advice from the likes of U.S. Vogue editor Anna Wintour, but it has sometimes seemed a challenge. Tent-like and shapeless was the order of the day.
The late designer Karl Lagerfeld put it bluntly when he called Adele ‘a little too fat’. Of course, many designers would happily have women stick thin, but Adele has herself conceded that her wardrobe choices have in the past been limited by what she can fit into.
When she lost a little weight in 2016, it gave her an appetite for clothes shopping. ‘Now I fit into normal, off-the-shelf clothes — which is a really big problem for me!’ she joked.
She now employs the services of celebrity stylist Gaelle Paul, whose others clients include Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lopez.
And as the sexy black velvet gown she wore this week shows, her wardrobe is her oyster now.
New figure…and a new man?
Could the dramatic change in Adele’s romantic life have played a part in her physical transformation? It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that someone coming back on the dating scene after a long relationship has decided they need to sharpen their appearance.
In April, Adele separated from her husband, the philanthropist and ex-banker Simon Konecki, above left, after more than eight years together. They have a seven-year-old son, Angelo, and the couple said they are ‘committed to raising their son together lovingly’.
Adele is pictured (left) in 2013 with Simon Konecki, they have now separated. She is now thought to be dating Skepta (right)
Insiders said the break-up was ‘very difficult’. Given what she had said about wealthy Old Etonian Mr Konecki, whom she wed in 2016, the split must have come as a terrible blow.
In late 2015, she described their relationship as ‘very serious’ and stressed the significance of finally finding a man who could cope with her enormous success.
Explaining why they hadn’t married, she said: ‘We’ve got a kid together. I feel like that’s a big enough commitment.’
At the same time, Adele significantly dialled down her social life as she became a stay-at-home mother.
Now she’s single and reportedly getting out more, it wouldn’t be surprising if she was more sensitive about her physical attractiveness.
She may have a new romance on the horizon in the form of British rapper Skepta, who is rather more glamorous than the cuddly Mr Konecki.
The grime music star, above right — who, like Adele, comes from Tottenham, North London — invited her to celebrate his 37th birthday with him in the capital last month. Friends say the pair have enjoyed several dates together.