Adele says she doesn’t want to be a body image role model: ‘It makes me sad that people expected that much from me'
Adele is opening up about how her recent weight loss has changed her life.
The “Easy on Me” singer, whose long-awaited album 30 arrives on Nov. 19, spoke to the Face about the conversation around her slimmer body, and whether she felt like losing weight might send the wrong message to fans who saw a plus-size woman embracing her shape.
“Of course I’m concerned that so many people were so hurt by it. That’s a real thing,” Adele explained of the controversy, which was first stirred last year after she posted a photo of herself looking noticeably thinner. “But I never gave myself that role or job. It’s not my responsibility. I’ve never set my validations on anyone else, I would never. I was told that from a young age. If you want something, you do it yourself. If you wanna end up somewhere, it’s your journey. It makes me sad that people expected that much from me, because that’s unattainable for anybody. Things that people say, how someone looks, whatever. It’s not my job.”
She added that contrary to popular belief, “your body doesn’t give you a f—ing personality.”
Adele also shared the logistical changes she had to make after losing weight, saying that she had to stop wearing certain clothes that she had “great memories” in. She also said it surprises people when she doesn’t want to show off parts of her body.
“They’re not insecurities,” she noted. “But on the cover of Vogue, they were all trying to put me in sleeveless dresses. I was like: ‘I ain’t showing my arms! Are you mad?’ I’ve never liked my arms, ever, and I still don’t like my arms. It goes back to that thing of being thin and being happy. Yeah, my arms are half the size, don’t mean I f—ing like them! F—ing hate my feet still.”
Adele had previously opened up about the criticism surrounding her body to Oprah Winfrey, telling the media personality, “My body has been objectified my entire career — I’m too big, I’m too small, I’m hot or I’m not. I feel bad if anyone feels horrible about themselves but that’s not my job. I’m trying to sort my own life out. I can’t have another worry.”
She also explained to British Vogue that her weight loss occurred over a two-year period, but that she simply didn’t post much on social media in that time — making it seem sudden.
“People are shocked because I didn’t share my ‘journey,'" she said. "They’re used to people documenting everything on Instagram, and most people in my position would get a big deal with a diet brand … I did it for myself and not anyone else. So why would I ever share it? I don’t find it fascinating. It’s my body.”
One thing that Adele is sure of? "You don’t need to be overweight to be body-positive,” she told the magazine. “You can be any shape or size.”
