Adele and the strange glamorisation of divorce

‘I’ve never been happier!’ Adele posted on Instagram last week, in celebration of her 34th birthday and her emotional ‘healing’ after divorce. Last year, Adele confessed that she ‘voluntarily chose to dismantle’ her child’s ‘entire life’ in ‘pursuit of her own happiness’, even though she ‘wasn’t miserable miserable’ in her marriage. The pop singer, who left her partner of nearly ten years, is now fêted by the media for her self-empowering divorce album, and has coined a catchphrase ‘divorce, babe, divorce’, and sells necklaces spelling ‘DIVORCED’ as merchandise.

These days, divorce is seen as just another form of self empowerment. ‘This Valentine’s day, let’s hear it for divorce,’ wrote Vogue in February, while The Guardian recently discussed ‘the joy of divorce parties’, from smashing wedding rings to pummelling heart-shaped piñatas. Elsewhere we hear about the lavish and liberating lifestyles of divorcées: ‘Botox? No, it’s my post-divorce glow,’ declares one headline, followed by ‘far from tragic, we divorcées are going to festivals, travelling with friends and taking on toy boys.’