What We Know About Adele's Rare Health Issue

What fresh hell did we wake up to when one of the best voices of our generation woke up unable to hear? That's exactly what happened to Adele after a string of shows in Munich in the summer of 2024. Later that year, the "Hello" hitmaker shared with fans at her Las Vegas residency, held at the legendary Caesars Palace, that she had been struck by a rare bacterial infection picked up from water that left her with a torturous ear infection. The singer said, "It was the most painful thing that has ever, ever happened to me in my life – it was worse than childbirth" (via The Sun).

But, as the adage tells us, the show must go on. The singer wasn't going to let the waterborne condition dampen her set. During one of her "Weekends with Adele" shows in Vegas, she admitted to fans, "I can't hear anything in my left ear," before joking, "I feel like I'm nailing it though, right?" (via TikTok). And judging by the crowd's reaction, she was. None other than Celine Dion was spotted among the audience one night, singing and dancing along to favorites like "Rolling in the Deep." Luckily for Adele (as well as her fans), the condition is only temporary, and she was given antibiotics to treat it.

But what happens in Vegas really does stay in Vegas, as Adele stunned fans with news she was taking a long break from music (via TikTok). In a tearful farewell, she said, "I will not see you for an incredibly long time and I will hold you dear in my heart through that whole next of my break." She explained that she wanted to focus on herself, and welling up, she added, "I've spent the last seven years building a new life for myself, and I want to live it now. I wanna live the new life that I've been building."

Adele's 2021 album, "30," traced her struggles with her divorce from Simon Konecki. Ironically, given Adele's recent waterborne infection, Konecki is the CEO of a nonprofit that supplies clean drinking water to developing countries. Looking back on her life in the wake of the split, she revealed to Rolling Stone that creating her four albums was therapeutic. "I'm not frightened of loneliness anymore," she revealed. Adele will likely continue to focus on raising their son, Angelo, telling the music outlet: "We do normal, normal, things on the weekends. I'll take him to the parties, all of that. We'll do the school drop-off." It seems the global sensation is finally ready to say "Hello" to the other side.