As she continues to promote her upcoming album, Adele has opened up about her difficult relationship with her father, who struggled with alcoholism, abandoned her as a toddler and refused to listen to her songs for years.
She told Oprah as part of the two-hour CBS special ‘Adele One Night Only’ that she reconciled with her estranged father, Mark Evans, in Wales, shortly before his death in May from bowel cancer, aged 57.
Then last month the Grammy-winning songstress confessed in Vogue that she dealt with the grief of losing him by having ‘a lot of therapy’ and ‘a lot of time spent’ alone, while telling Rolling Stone last week that she underestimated how much love she had for her father, after years of acrimony.
FEMAIL reflects on their turbulent relationship. It includes his “absolute lack in presence and effort” to their breaking rift, and finally their reconciliation.
Adele (pictured below) shared with Oprah her story about reconciling with Mark Evans, her father in Wales shortly before he died in May of bowel cancer.
Mark (pictured), left Adele at two years old to leave Penny, her mother of 20.
When Adele was just a toddler, Mark left her with Adele.
When Adele was just two years old, Mark left her mother Penny (now 20) to care for her.
He kept in contact with his daughter for many years even though he didn’t offer much in terms of financial support.
There were, however, summer holidays spent in a caravan in Tenby, South Wales, and days eating ice cream on the beach at Barry Island, Glamorgan where Mark helped his father, John, run a café at the pleasure park.
He had previously told of a young girl who enjoyed swimming, and was obsessed by the Spice Girls. She sang along to all their songs and knew their words perfectly.
‘I just can’t believe that a scruffy little kid from Tottenham has grown up to be a global superstar,’ Mark said in a 2012 interview with the Daily Mail.
He was a ‘rotten father’ to his daughter growing up while suffering from alcoholism
Mark admitted that he had been a “rotten dad” to his daughter as he grew up. He blamed his alcoholism, which was caused by his breakup with Adele’s mother Penny Adkins.
His reply was: “I used to drink two litres of vodka every day and seven or eight pints Stella each night. That was the way I consumed alcohol for three consecutive years. God knows only how it ended.
He said he was deeply ashamed of his ‘becoming’ and added: “The most kind thing that I could do Adele was make sure that she doesn’t see me in such a state.”
After the split, Adele went to Wales for school with her grandparents as well as her half-brother Cameron.
However, Evans had a major breakdown following the passing of Adele’s grandfather John. This caused Evans to lose contact with his daughter over many years.
He shared his thoughts about that moment, saying that “Losing dad was the worst thing I have ever experienced.” He was everything to me. To me, he was everything. I find it hard to accept that he has never seen Adele perform or witnessed her become what she is.
Mr Evans spoke of having a complete breakdown after his father’s death — he lost his hair to stress-induced alopecia — and drank two litres of vodka a day for three years.
A girlfriend intervened and convinced him to quit drinking.
God only knows how it happened, but I managed to survive. I hit the bottle so hard that I am pretty much oblivious to anything that happened to me in those three years, and I didn’t want Adele to see me like that,’ he said.
I was ashamed of the person that I had become. Adele could have me make certain she didn’t see me in this state.
In an interview with the Mail On Sunday in 2013, he explained: ‘When Adele was growing up I wasn’t a great example of what a father should be, but I always kept in touch and saw her regularly. We were close and she came to live with us at weekends and on school holidays.
Things went wrong for her when she was 12, because she had to deal with some issues, which included the deaths of my dad and my best friend. But we got through it and were back together by age 15.
‘I remember trying to explain my absence to her then and she cut in and said, “It’s OK Dad, I love you.” Since then, we’d always got on great again and no one has enjoyed her success more than me.’
Mark (pictured) has previously confessed that he was not a good father to his child when she was growing-up. He also blames his alcoholism for his treatment of Adele’s mother Penny Adkins.
The pair famously fell out in 2011 following an interview by Mark
In 2011, Mark broke up with his daughter after he said that she had struggled to find love due to her abandonment issues.
Evans admitted that he was responsible for all his mistakes as a father in the interview which led to Evans’ arrest.
However, he suggested that Adele’s troubled love life, as featured in her song lyrics and other songs could be due to his abandonment issues.
Reacting to his comments, Adele is understood to have said: ‘He’s f****** blown it. I will not hear from him again. This makes me mad.
It’s to come back in 10 years, and feel like “Maybe her problem is with men comes down on me.” It’s like, “How dare you comment on my life?” It causes my blood to boil.
American Vogue interviewed her in 2012. She stated that she will spit in the face of him “if I ever see” him. He won’t hear from me again.
But commenting on the interview in 2013, Mark said that as the world went into overdrive to find out who had inspired hit records like Rolling In The Deep and Someone Like You, he was besieged by requests for interviews about his daughter.
‘A journalist had called at my mother’s home and tried to get an interview with her. My mum immediately rang Adele and a few minutes later, Adele’s management were on the phone to Mum telling her to say nothing.
‘The same afternoon, I also got a call asking if I wanted to do an interview. The guy asked me to stop calling and I told him. But not in the same polite way. She told me the same man had been at my mother’s house and then said, “Tell you what Dad, we’ll do it together. We’ll do a joint interview and get it all out in the open.”
‘I was surprised but I said, “I’ll do whatever makes you happy sweetheart, you know that.” Adele said she’d make the necessary arrangements.
‘The next morning, she rings up and says, “Sorry Dad, I can’t do the interview, I’m about to catch a flight to America.” That’s rock and roll, I thought. But I assumed from the fact she wanted to do an interview with me, she wouldn’t mind me going ahead on my own. It was clear that I wanted to do her a favor by telling her how proud and ashamed of me and my mistakes as a parent. This would make it public and keep people from making fun of her.
‘I called her several times to double check she was happy for me to speak but I couldn’t get hold of her. I still assumed she didn’t mind.
‘Even afterwards I thought everything was fine because I got feedback from her management that she was very happy with the piece. Then, a few days later, I got a call from Adele’s mum, Penny, shouting down the phone, “You shouldn’t have done that.” Before I could reply, she hung up. It was their last communication.
‘It’s so sad it’s come to this, and all over an honest account of my feelings for her. I’ve never said a bad word about Adele and I’m absolutely gutted she’s cut me out of her life.’
Adele was with her late father in death from cancer, and she reconciled with him.
Adele told Oprah she felt some closure following a meeting in Wales with her father before he died in May of bowel cancer.
Oprah revealed to the singer that she felt some closure following a meeting in Wales with her father, who died from bowel cancer in May.
“My father’s absence of effort and presence…But then I realized that it was alcohol…It took from my dad,” she said, tearing up.
Adele revealed to Oprah how her absent father when Adele was a baby had influenced her adult relationship skills. She also said that it made her feel guilty for hurting her parents as a way of protecting herself from being hurt.
She stated, “I do not hurt the first in a malicious manner, but to protect myself,”
Oprah spoke out about Adele’s “interesting relationship” with alcohol. The singer stated that her dad’s passing had made a difference in her life.
‘It [ Alcohol]Adele stated that she took her dad away from her. “I realized that I was a person who needed to be improved upon, and I quit drinking. Then I began working out.
Vogue asked her how she coped with the loss of her father. There was much meditation. Therapy was an important part of the process. I also spent a lot on my own.
She said, “I know that he loved and respected me” adding, that she had played the album for his benefit. She had spent decades avoiding her music because he found it disturbing.
Adele, who released her fourth studio album 30 in November, spoke to Rolling Stone about how she underestimated the amount of love that she felt for her father after many years of bitterness.
‘I don’t think I understood the deepness of how I felt about him until we spoke,’ she told the publication, crediting close friend India for encouraging her to reconnect with Mark.
Adele, Simon Konecki’s ex-wife, was so at ease that she was able introduce Angelo to him as her 9-year-old grandchild.
The singer claims that she felt a cathartic “physical reaction” when her father died. It was similar to the famous scene from Tom Hanks’ movie The Green Mile in which a person with terminal illnesses is taken out and spat out.
She remembered: “It was as if I let out one whine and then some left. I’ve felt so calm ever since then. That really set me free.