Adele has admitted that reconciling with her estranged father while he was on his deathbed was one of the biggest moments of her life.
The Hello hit-maker, 34, 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.
During her candid conversation, the songstress 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.
Although Adele and her dad hadn't seen eye-to-eye for years one end, when she got the call to confirm that he was sick, she immediately put the past behind her and drove straight to see her father.
“When I found out that he was ill a few years ago, I got the call and I drove straight there," the singer told.
"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.”
Mark Evans separated from Adele's mum, Penny Adkins, when their daughter was three years old.
Their split, along with the death of Mark's own father from bowel cancer, led to his spiralling into alcoholism and he distanced himself from his daughter, permanently damaging their relationship.
Mark lived in Cardiff, Wales, where he worked as a plumber, and he admitted to The Sun in 2011 that he was a 'rotten father' when Adele needed him most.
"I was putting away two litres of vodka and seven or eight pints of Stella every day," he said.
"I drank like that for three years. God only knows how I survived it. I was deeply ashamed of what I'd become and I knew the kindest thing I could do for Adele was to make sure she never saw me in that state."
Then, during a zoom call in April 2021, Adele and Mark had a conversation that she said brought her closure, and she played him her album, 30.
One song she particularly wanted to her dad to hear was To Be Loved, a song that explores how her dad's absence affected her ability to trust.
"It was amazing for me and him," she said. "I think he could listen to me sing it, but not saying it – we are very similar like that.
"His favourites were all of my favourites, which was amazing. So it was it was very, very healing [and] when he died, it was literally like the wound closed up.
"I felt that huge gaping hole filled," she added.
