Inside Adele’s health struggles – from major weight loss to sudden ‘partial blindness'

Adele is one of the most successful musicians in the UK (Image: Getty Images)

She is arguably one of the world’s best-selling singers around today, regularly topping the charts with her soulful music.

Adele first stormed onto the music scene back in back in 2008 with her first album 19 which quickly became a huge success.

And her following albums certainly didn’t disappoint, with the hitmaker scooping up 16 Grammy’s and 12 Brit Awards as well as a Prime-Time Emmy award and a Golden Globe throughout her career.

The mum-of-one has gone on to sell more than 120million records worldwide with her studio albums 21 and 25 both earning the title of the top two best-selling albums of the 2010s in the UK.

Now, as fans celebrate the nine-year anniversary of her show-stopping album 25, let’s take a look inside the songstress’ hidden health struggles.

The hitmaker underwent throat surgery in the early days of her career (Image: PA)

Throat surgery 

Adele encountered her first major health issue that would impact her career back in 2011, when she was forced to undergo “vocal cord microsurgery”. Doctors were tasked with removing a benign polyp that forced the singer to cancer a series of gigs.

Aged just 23 at the time, Adele released a statement apologising to fans before she underwent the operation at the Massachusetts General Hospital in the heart of Boston.

It read: “Based on the advice of her doctor and voice therapist in the United Kingdom, Adele came to Boston to consult and undergo corrective surgery.”

This type of surgery is designed to prevent repeated bleeding of the vocal cords, and came less than a month after the singer cancelled the remainder of dates she was scheduled to perform that year.

Taking to Instagram at the time, Adele added: “If I continue to pick up everything before I have properly conquered these problems and nipped them in the bud, I will be totally and utterly f***ed. Singing is literally my life, it’s my hobby, my love, my freedom and now my job.”

She dropped more than seven stone in two years (Image: PA)

Weight loss  

Over the years, the 36-year-old has garnered attention not only for her incredible vocals but also her impressive weight loss too.

Three years ago, Adele revealed she had lost a massive 100lbs – just over seven stone – in two years. The Chasing Pavements singer didn’t follow a fad diet shift but instead became “addicted” to exercise.

During an interview with British Vogue, Adele explained that she felt her body had been objectified throughout her entire career.She told the outlet: “People have been talking about my body for 12 years.

"They used to talk about it before I lost weight. But yeah, whatever, I don’t care. You don’t need to be overweight to be body positive, you can be any shape or size.”

The singer added that she started exercising not to lose weight but to help handle her anxiety. She admitted that when she worked out, she would “feel better”, adding: “I got quite addicted to it. I work out two or three times a day.”

The mum-of-one suffered from depression and anxiety after her divorce (Image: PA)

Mental health battle 

In 2021, Adele opened up about her mental health struggles, detailing how her anxiety and depression left her bed-bound following the breakdown of her marriage.

The Grammy Award-winner confessed she was “devastated and embarrassed” when news about her divorce to Simon Konecki hit the headlines in 2019. Speaking to Rolling Stone, she said she had “never really felt present” in a happy home with her family.

She told the American music magazine: “It made me really sad. Then having so many people that I don’t know how that I didn’t make that work... it f***ing devastated me. I was embarrassed.

“No one made me feel embarrassed, but you feel like you didn’t do a good job.” According to Rolling Stone, she suffered “an intense few weeks of bed-bound anxiety” Following their split.

Thankfully, the artist began to turn a corner when she celebrated her 31st birthday in May 2019. She admitted: “I feel quite hopeful. It was the first time I felt I’d had a really nice evening and I was OK being in the house and going to bed on my own.”

But when the star woke up on her birthday, she admitted she “saw this tsunami of emotions” coming towards her. She added: “I was like, ‘This is going to be really f***ing up-and-down.”

She suffered from a spinal condition last year (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Spinal condition 

In August 2023, the doting mum revealed to fans that she collapsed backstage before a performance due to a sciatica attack, according to The Sun.

She allegedly told fan: “They picked my whole body up off the floor.” Adele was forced to sit down during her Weekends With Adele performance, explaining: “I am going to sit down and rest my sciatica.”

The NHS defines sciatica is where the sciatic nerve, which runs from your lower back to your feet, is irritated or compressed. It can cause shooting pains, a sensation of cramp and can be so severe it leaves someone unable to walk.

Earlier in the year, Adele detailed her chronic pain during another Las Vegas show as she hobbled across the stage. While talking to the crowd, she fired E-shirts towards members of the audience using a handheld cannon.

She said: “I’ve got two more, I’ve just got to get over to the other side of the stage. I have to waddle these days because I have really bad sciatica.”

The singer was left "partially deaf" after she came into contact with "rare water bacteria" (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

‘Partially deaf’ 

Ealrier this year, Adele had been left "partially deaf" after she came into contact with "rare water bacteria" that is "very hard to treat."

The Hello hitmaker admitted she experienced pain "worst than childbirth" during her residency in Munich back in August. Speaking to fans at Ceasars Palace in Las Vegas, she said: "I have an ear infection, which is pretty grim.

"I've never had done before. It's the most painful thing that's ever, ever happened to me. It was worse that childbirth. It's a rare water bacteria.

"It's very hard to treat. I was on the wrong antibiotics for a few days and they managed to give me one that started to work. As reported by The Sun, Adele added: "I wanted to chop my ear off a few times. I'm no longer in pain, which is great but I'm a bit deaf in my left ear.