Adele Says She’s ‘A Bit Deaf’ After Painful Ear Infection

Adele is recovering from a painful ear infection that impacted her hearing.

“I actually have an ear infection, which is actually pretty grim. I’ve never had an ear infection before,” Adele, 36, said during her Friday, October 25, concert in Las Vegas, per social media footage. “It is the most painful thing that ever, ever happened to me in my life. It was worse than childbirth.”

According to the Grammy winner, she picked up a “rare water bacteria” while she was on tour in Munich this summer.

“[It] is hard to treat, so I was on the wrong antibiotics for a few days,” Adele recalled. “They managed to give me one that started to work. I’m no longer in pain, which is great, [but] I’m a bit deaf in my left ear.”

Despite her apparent hearing impairment, Adele stressed that “there was no way” she would “miss this f—ing show.”

While Adele did not further elaborate on her condition, she previously has been candid about what it was like becoming a first-time parent. Adele gave birth to son Angelo, whom she shares with ex-husband Simon Konecki, in October 2012.

“There are definitely a few elements of myself that I don’t think I’ll ever get back,” Adele told The Face in a November 2021 interview, discussing her postpartum experience. “More than anything, it’s the freedom of being able to do whatever you want, whenever you want. Going somewhere and not having to prioritize someone else. Whereas my number one priority with everything I do since I had Angelo, which is in life, in work, is obviously my son.”

Related: Adele Says Becoming a Mom Amid Success Was Considered ‘Career Suicide’

Adele has no regrets about becoming a mom at the height of her career. The singer, 35, opened up about motherhood at The Hollywood Reporter’s annual Women in Entertainment Gala in Los Angeles on Thursday, December 7. During her acceptance speech for the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award, Adele reflected on getting pregnant with son Angelo […]

She added at the time, “Giving, giving, giving, to a baby or a toddler, when they can’t even f—ing talk to you, your brain goes a bit mushy. You’re not stimulated very much. In that, I also got really quite bad postpartum depression, or postnatal as we call it [in the UK].”

Now that Angelo is older, the singer has learned to embrace motherhood. She also hopes to expand her family. Adele has recently been open about possibly having a child with her partner, sports agent Rich Paul. (Paul, 43, also has adult children from past relationships.)

“I definitely would like a couple more kids,” she said during a July 2022 appearance on the BBC’s “Desert Island Discs” program. “It would be wonderful. If not, I’ve got Angelo.”

Adele continues to coparent her son with her ex-husband.