Adele’s father ‘regrets’ rift with his daughter

THE estranged father of British singer Adele has spoken of his torment over their rift after his daughter’s six Grammy awards sealed her status as a global pop superstar.

Mark Evans, a plumber, said he was overcome with emotion last week while watching his daughter on stage at the Los Angeles ceremony from his home on a housing estate in Wales.

Evans, a 50-year-old recovering alcoholic, walked out on Adele when she was two, leaving her 20-year-old mum Penny Adkins to raise her single-handedly.

“When she sings, it’s so beautiful but it brings back too many memories,” he said, “it’s too painful.”

“There’s so much regret on my part – regret that I wasn’t a better father to her. I let her down badly, and I wish I could turn the clock back and do things differently.”

Adele, 23, told a US magazine that if she ever saw her father again she would “spit in his face” and that he would never hear from her again.

Evans said: “I can’t believe she said that. It’s devastating. I don’t know where it’s come from.”

He said he last spoke to Adele in December when he phoned to wish her a happy Christmas. “She was very busy, but everything seemed OK between us.”

Evans and Adkins lived in Tottenham when Adele was born. Evans said that after he left he sent her mother money when he was able to and that he maintained an “amicable” relationship with his daughter and her mother and that they had visited him in Wales.

But he said alcoholism had taken over his life following the death of his father from bowel cancer.

“I hit the booze,” he said. “I got wrapped up in myself. I wasn’t there for her. The alcohol affected my relationship with Adele. I regret it, and I always will.”

Adele paid tribute to her mother at the Grammy awards, saying: “I just want to say ‘mum, your girl did good!’, but made no mention of her father.