Did Adele quit Las Vegas shows over her crippling fear of performing live?
SHE has promised she will be back on stage as soon as she can, but fans are wondering if Adele’s last minute decision to pull out of her Las Vegas show is down to more than just "not being ready”.
The 33-year-old broke down in tears yesterday as she told fans the show couldn’t go on – just one day before opening night - having been "absolutely destroyed" by delivery delays and coronavirus.
In the past the award winning singer has made no secret of her crippling stage fright, or indeed the fact she hates touring.
She previously told how she has vomited before going on stage and said she would turn jobs down in case she had an ‘anxiety attack’ and couldn’t go on.
In one interview she said: “I'm scared of audiences. One show in Amsterdam, I was so nervous I escaped out the fire exit. I've thrown up a couple of times. Once in Brussels, I projectile vomited on someone. I just gotta bear it. But I don't like touring. I have anxiety attacks a lot.”
She continued: “My heart feels like it's going to explode because I never feel like I'm going to deliver, ever.It's actually getting worse.”
Talking to Q magazine back in 2011, she said: "I will not do festivals. The thought of an audience that big frightens the life out of me. I don't think the music would work either. It's all too slow.
"I'd hate to book a festival and have a f***ing anxiety attack and then not go on stage, do you know what I mean?"
She added: "I'd rather do 12 years at the Barfly than one night at the O2."
Sources told the Daily Mail that more recently the mum-of-one, was “in a panic” before she filming her star-studded Audience With in October last year.
A guest told the publication: “She was freaking out in the dressing room, and this was for an invited audience of friends. The atmosphere was horribly tense.
“Ben Winston was producing the show and he actually looked as if he was going to be sick from the stress of it.”
During the show, she was forced to restart her hit track Easy On Me because of nerves, telling viewers she was “s**ting herself’.
Taking to Twitter to discuss the reason behind Adele’s decision, one person wrote: “@Adele is having a anxiety breakdown n nervous tendencies…. Only 7 have COVID…it’s n just an excuse to delay n blame it on that instead of breakdown issues.”
Another added: “I suspect, at some time later on down the road, Adele is going to confess to having some 'severe anxiety' that is then attributed to get multiple, and now well-known cancellations! Woman shrugging.”
While someone else speculated: “Her hand slightly tremoring, her emotion, the breathing. I know that feeling. Anxiety. Panic. Thanks for being so real and raw with us @Adele
“We love you. We adore you. Now look after you. When you’re ready, so will!”