Adele has wowed her fans around the world today as she finally released her first new track in five years – Easy On Me – which reflects on the pain she felt amid her divorce from husband Simon Konecki.
But who is the mysterious old-Etonian and charity CEO who swept the singer off her feet and supported her through superstardom – before she began airing their dirty laundry in public?
Simon, 47, who was born in New York but moved to London as a child, attending Eton before going on to work in the city as a teenager, with stints at the Lehman Brothers and EBS.
Having been nicknamed ‘Swampy’ by workmates, he left banking behind in 2005 and set up the ‘ethical’ Life Water company, selling bottled English mineral water.
He began dating Adele in 2012, after being introduced by mutual friend Ed Sheeran, with rumours circulating that their relationship began before the end of his first marriage to stylist Clary Fisher. The two welcomed a child, Angelo, in October that year.
Adele and Simon married in 2018, but the relationship quickly soured and they separated in 2019- at the time, friends insisted the split wouldn’t turn nasty.
But earlier this year, it emerged Adele was reportedly forced to use mediators to split up her £140 million fortune during her divorce from husband Simon.
While not quite in the same league, former Etonian Simon has his own money and is reportedly worth around £2m ($2.7m) in his own right. It has been reported they did not even sign a pre-nuptial agreement before they wed.
And now, with Adele revealing all about their relationship in her latest album, 30, notoriously private Simon is yet to release any comment.
Adele has wowed her fans around the world today as she finally released her first new track in five years – Easy On Me – which reflects on the pain she felt amid her divorce from husband Simon Konecki
The pair were introduced by Ed Sheeran in 2011, and began dating in 2012 (pictured together in January 2012)
What of Simon? The grandson of a Polish radio operator, He is the son of Andrew and Rosemary Konecki — who live in Vevey, Switzerland, where income tax is a maximum 11.5 per cent. They also have a £1 million holiday home in Boca Raton, Florida.
He was born in New York, where he lived for the first 10 years of his life, before his family moved to London.
There, he attended the prestigious boys school Eton (fees, £30,000 a year) alongside contemporaries like Camilla’s son Tom Parker-Bowles and Bear Grylls.
He left when he was around 14. Simon was placed in the boarding house of history teacher David Evans, who was at Cambridge with some of the Monty Python team.
The house had a reputation for being badly behaved and it seems that Simon fitted right in.
At 17 he had started his first job, as a trainee foreign exchange broker. He later recalled how he wore a pin-striped suit with red braces to the interview (‘inspired by the film Wall Street’).
Simon worked in banking for years before leaving in 2005 and set up the ‘ethical’ Life Water company, selling bottled English mineral water (pictured)
He added: ‘They took me to the pub and proceeded to take the mickey out of me for hours. But I got the job.’
When he worked in the City, his nickname was Swampy thanks to his ‘long hair and Leftie views’. (Swampy was an environmental activist briefly famous during the Nineties.)
Seven years later, he started running teams of senior brokers at Lehman Brothers.
Stints investment holding company EBS followed. By 2004, Simon had fallen in love with and married Clary Fisher, a striking fashion stylist from Swindon, Wiltshire.
She had studied costume at the Bristol Old Vic and tailoring at the London College Of Fashion. She then worked as a stylist for TV and fashion shows and music bands.
The young couple first set up home just off The Highway in East London, before moving to Flask Walk, one of Hampstead’s most coveted addresses.
Extrovert Simon made friends with EastEnders actor Sid Owen and playboy heir Lucas White. It was a fast crowd — the late Tara Palmer-Tomkinson was also on the fringes of the scene.
In 2005, disillusioned with banking, Simon left the City behind.
In an interview, he said: ‘I was doing well and earning a lot of money, but I got sick of that greedy and corrupted world.’
After giving up his job, Clary gave birth to their first child, a daughter, Georgie, in 2006 and they left London for Brighton.
There, Simon set up the ‘ethical’ Life Water company, selling bottled English mineral water.
What set his business apart was its partnership with a charity Drop4drop, which would provide clean drinking water in the developing world — at a rate of 1,000 litres of clean water for every one litre of mineral water sold.
Simon sought celebrity endorsements, making friends with Stephen Fry among others. But as he devoted more and more time to business, his marriage foundered.
A former neighbour, speaking on condition of anonymity, recalled the Koneckis’ marriage had fallen apart amid much bitterness.
She said: ‘Even when they first moved into the house in Brighton, Clary wasn’t happy. She told me they had only moved because Simon wanted to be near his family and he had failed as an investment banker in London.
‘She frequently spoke negatively about Simon’s parents as they would bail him out a lot.
‘She often complained they had no money and that everything extra they had went into his water business.
‘In the summer, when we had the doors open, you could hear them rowing in the kitchen.’
By 2009, according to the neighbour, Clary was on her own in the house with their daughter.
In 2011, he met Adele, after being introduced by British singer Ed Sheeran.
Party-loving Simon is 15 years her senior and was said to be impressed by fame.
Adele, blunt to a fault, was initially dazzled by Simon’s ‘brilliance’ and education.
Soon after Adele and Konecki were first spotted together, it was reported that he had started his relationship with Adele before his divorce from Fisher had been finalized.
By 2004, Simon had fallen in love with and married Clary Fisher, a striking fashion stylist from Swindon, Wiltshire, but the pair split in 2009
However, Adele denied these reports in a blog post on her official website, stating that they were in a relationship, but that Konecki had been divorced for 4 years.
They had son Angelo in 2012, uprooting from London to LA, and Adele waxed lyrical about her husband.
When she won Best Original Song Motion Picture in the Golden Globes in 2013 for Skyfall, she said she would no longer be using heartbreak as source for new material.
According to her in Parade magazine, ‘My inspiration normally comes from heartbreak, but I don’t think I am going to have to get devastated again, so that’s good.’
A former neighbour, speaking on condition of anonymity, recalled the Koneckis’ marriage had fallen apart amid much bitterness (pictured, Simon in 2010 after their split)
In 2014, there were rumours of trouble when it was claimed that Konecki had moved out of their London home and into his bachelor pad in Brighton.
Adele eventually responded to the reports on Twitter, writing: ‘Just wanted to wish everyone happy holidays & all the best for 2015! PS Simon & I are still very much together, don’t believe what you read x.’
However, the pair were photographed in June that year having an argument outside London celebrity hotspot Chiltern Firehouse.
Meanwhile Simon was an inspiration for the album 25, which was released in November 2015.
Soon after Adele and Konecki were first spotted together, it was reported that he had started his relationship with Adele before his divorce from Fisher had been finalized – but the pair denied the reports
When she accepted the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, she concluded her speech by saying, ‘Grammy’s, I appreciate it. The Academy, I love you. My manager, my husband and my son — you’re the only reason I do it.’
Meanwhile in an interview with the Rolling Stones in the same month, Adele revealed that her song, ‘Water Under the Bridge’, is about Konecki and their relationship.
She said, ‘It was sort of about a relationship suddenly getting really, really serious, and then getting a bit frightened by it, and then realising that ‘I think this must be right. This is the relationship that I want to be in for as long as I can possibly be in it.’
Over the years, Adele gushed about her love for Konecki who she has credited with helping her recover from vocal cord surgery in 2011.
Over the years, Adele gushed about her love for Konecki who she has credited with helping her recover from vocal cord surgery in 2011 (pictured in 2012)
Meanwhile in an interview with the Rolling Stones, Adele revealed that her song, ‘Water Under the Bridge’, is about Konecki and their relationship
She said: ‘He’s wonderful and he’s proud of me but he doesn’t care about what I do or what other people think. He looks after me. I don’t think I would have gotten through the recovery for my surgery if it hadn’t been for him.’
She told Matt Lauer on his NBC Today show in 2015, that she had ‘never been happier’.
‘And I’ve never been healthier. So I’m good,’ she added, while promoting the chart-topping follow-up to her previous smash hit album 21.
Adele went on: ‘Being in such an amazing relationship with someone that’s so there for me and so loyal and is really part of my core now, that’s what made me write about everything I’ve ever done, because I’ve got his love.’
They married in a secret ceremony in 2018.
The couple attended the 2012 Grammy Awards together, with Adele giving birth to their son Angelo that November
By the time they finally married, having been together for five years, sources say that the romance was already in crisis
By the time they finally married, having been together for five years, sources say that the romance was already in crisis.
‘It was one of those marriages which went wrong from the start,’ a source said.
‘They had been trying for years, but eventually you have to accept that something just isn’t going to work out,’ said another insider.
By the time of Adele’s Titanic-themed 30th birthday party in May 2018, the marriage was heading for its own iceberg.
In 2014, there were rumours of trouble when it was claimed that Konecki had moved out of their London home and into his bachelor pad in Brighton (pictured together in 2015)
In April 2019, Adele announced she and Konecki had separated after more than 7 years together (pictured together in 2015)
Actor Aaron Paul, producer Mark Ronson and film director Sam Taylor-Johnson joined others including actress Emma Stone to toast her health.
Rumours of trouble also flew when Simon showed up to the Brit Awards in February 2019 without Adele. Their final public appearance was in January that year, at a concert by her good friend Sir Elton John.
What was the trouble? It seems Simon was ‘the wrong guy’ for Adele, who is famous in showbusiness for her take-no-prisoners attitude.
One record company source sighed that the album 25 was ‘put back more often than Cher’s hairline’ because of Adele — and anything less than perfect isn’t good enough for her.
And finally that included the husband who she once said was her ‘soulmate and best mate’.
Not too far to go… It was revealed in May 2019, that Adele had splashed out on a £8.53million Beverly Hills home just feet away from her estranged husband Simon’s pad, proving how committed they are to co-parenting son Angelo, eight
In April 2019, Adele announced she and Konecki had separated after more than 7 years together.
Their lives, undoubtedly, diverged. Living in her huge £7 million LA mansion, Adele found it was easier to hang out with young music stars without him — he didn’t come with her to see Taylor Swift or Drake in concert recently. Both stars are also her personal friends.
The great negative, of course, will come with a settlement to Simon. There was no pre-nuptial agreement, and Adele is worth more than £140 million.
In 2018, she signed over a house in LA’s Van Nuys district to Simon. The suburban house is worth £488,000. She has two other glorious homes in LA, the mansion and a beach house worth £5 million. He’s been given the third-best property.
They also shared adjoining mews houses in West London, although apparently Adele is now spending a few weeks with her mother in South London.
Meanwhile it was revealed in May 2019, that Adele had splashed out on a £8.53million Beverly Hills home just feet away from her Simon’s pad in order that they can co-parent their son.
Simon also had commitments in the UK, where he has a teenage daughter by his first marriage, who lives in Brighton.
He also travels to the South Sudan, Malawi and Mozambique where his clean water charity is at its most active.
In January, sources told The Sun that despite Adele and Simon’s breakup originally staying amicable, they had to use mediators to agree certain terms to their settlement.
Despite Adele’s mammoth fortune, earning £73k ($82k)-A-DAY in royalties alone, insiders claim there was never going to be a nasty fall-out with them over finances.
It’s been reported that the pair, who were married for three years and together for eight, were keen to avoid a nasty ‘Hollywood style’ divorce which would ‘drag on for years.’
The pair will share custody of their son Angelo, but ‘financial, sales or other confidential business information’ regarding the proceedings will not be publicly available.’
Sources previously insisted the separation was ‘unlikely’ to turn nasty. An insider told the Mail On Sunday: ‘Simon’s not like that. He’s got his own money after investing in his self built Broker association.
His only concern now is that he and Adele remain the best parents they can be to Angelo.’
He has remained silent in recent weeks as Adele began ramping up the PR efforts ahead of her new album release, and is yet to pass comment on her latest single.
Adele revealed this week that Easy On Me, as well as 30, will be about the ‘inner turmoil’ she felt as she divorced ex-husband Simon.
Adele revealed this week that Easy On Me, as well as 30, will be about the ‘inner turmoil’ she felt as she divorced ex-husband Simon
The lyrics include the lines, ‘We’re both so deeply stuck in our ways, you can’t deny how hard I’ve tried. I changed who I was to put you both first,’ as well as, ‘Go easy on me. I was still a child, didn’t get the chance to feel the world around me, had no time to choose, what I chose to do, so go easy on me…’
Shortly after dropping the single, Adele appeared on various radio shows to plug her new album.
The award-winning singer revealed she bares her soul on her new record, as it reflects the ‘inner turmoil’ she felt following the breakdown of her marriage, and forced to ‘unlock’ the door to her mental health.
Appearing on BBC Radio 2 on Friday morning, Adele confessed she ‘lost sight’ of making music while going through her divorce, but it helped her to come to terms with how she was feeling.
Speaking honestly about the recording process, Adele told host Zoe Ball: ‘It was bloody hard work to make. I was singing things I didn’t even realise I was feeling or thinking, but I’m really proud of it.’
A £140m net worth, £34.7m property portfolio and £60k-a-day in royalties: What was up for grabs in Adele’s megabucks divorce from Simon Konecki
While details are unknown of the ins and outs of the divorce, we take a look at the star’s finances show the vast wealth she has amassed during her time in the spotlight – and wisely invested in property.
From her lavish Kensington mews – an amalgamation of two homes – to her sprawling Beverly Hills pad, where she lives with their son Angelo, eight, Adele has managed to garner a £34.7m ($47.4m) property portfolio.
The pair will share custody of their son Angelo, but ‘financial, sales or other confidential business information’ regarding the proceedings will not be publicly available.
But how has Adele spent and invested her eye-popping £140million fortune?
Stunning: Adele splashed out on this five-bedroom, six-bathroom home, which was built in the early 60s, spans 6,045 square feet and sits on nearly an acre . The includes a large office, an art studio, a crafts room, a library and a gym
