Adele says she knows fans felt betrayed by her weight loss, but had to do it for herself

Adele has admitted some of her fans felt betrayed by her dramatic weight loss, but says she doesn't feel bad about it because dropping seven stone helped her with terrible anxiety.

The Easy On Me singer was a guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, where she spoke to host Lauren Laverne about the backlash from some quarters over her 100lb weight loss.

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Many Adele fans were surprised to see her transformation in 2020 as she had given no indication of trying to lose weight.

She said: "I understand why the press were fascinated by it . . . I didn’t share my journey in the way that everyone else does. Most other people would have a DVD out by now.

"I did it on the quiet, for myself. But I did feel terrible for some people who felt like other people’s comments meant that they didn’t look good and they weren’t beautiful.

"For some people it was (seen negatively) and I felt terrible — some of the ones I saw were young. Like 15."

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Adele added: "There were some other people who felt very betrayed, being like, ‘Oh, she’s given in to the pressure of it,’ which didn’t really bother me because, like, you ain’t holding my hand at night, at 4am, when I’m crying my heart out with anxiety and needing a distraction."

The 34-year-old had split from husband Simon Konecki, who she shares a son with, before losing weight and said that exercise had helped her to cope.

She said: "100 per cent it gave me focus, it gave me somewhere to get rid of my energy — good or bad — and it made me feel like I was getting stronger mentally by getting stronger physically."

Adele also spoke about her tough decision to postpone shows from the opening of her Las Vegas residency after realising that it wouldn't be ready in time.

She said: "It was horrible and the reaction was brutal, brutal, and I was a shell of a person for a ­couple of months."

The singer performed at Hyde Park for the British Summer Time concert series on Saturday night, where she paused her show to call on security to help out a struggling fan.

Watch: Adele stops London show to direct help to distressed fan