Rich Paul Reveals How His Friendship With Adele Turned Romantic
Adele is the queen of emotional breakup songs, but in her real life, she's been more successful at finding love.
The Grammy winner was first spotted with her boyfriend, Rich Paul, in July 2021 attending Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Though that was their first time in public, a source exclusively told Us Weekly at the time that the duo had been dating "for months" before the game.
"He's very shy and keeps a low profile when they go out, whereas Adele is super sociable," the insider added, noting that the pair managed to stay under the radar by mingling with the same inner circle. "The people they hang out with know them both personally already, so they don't have to introduce each other, which is probably why nobody picked up on their relationship sooner."
Two months later, the couple made things Instagram official when Adele shared a photo of the duo dressed up to attend NBA star Anthony Davis‘ wedding to Marlen P. (Paul, a sports agent, represents Davis as well as his Los Angeles Lakers teammate LeBron James.)
"They're very committed at this point and it's hard to imagine they won't be together for an extremely long time," a source told Us of Adele and her beau in October 2021, adding that the twosome "complement each other" very well. "She really feels like she hit the jackpot."
Adele was previously married to Simon Konecki, with whom she welcomed son Angelo in October 2012. The former couple called it quits in April 2019 after seven years together and finalized their divorce in early 2021.
"I was just going through the motions and I wasn't happy," she told Vogue of her marriage in October 2021. "Neither of us did anything wrong. Neither of us hurt each other or anything like that. It was just: I want my son to see me really love, and be loved. It's really important to me."
In the same interview, Adele revealed that she'd actually met Paul years before their romance began. "He was always there, I just didn't see him," she explained, adding that they reconnected at a party a "couple" of years earlier. "He was dancing. All the other guys were just sitting around. He was just dancing away."
That infectious charm is one of the things that captivated Adele from the start. "He's always making her feel special and doesn't have a single drop of selfishness or meanness in his body," an insider told Us in October 2021.
Keep scrolling for a look back at Adele and Paul's whirlwind romance:
May 2021
In a profile published by The New Yorker, Paul told a reporter that he'd been "hanging out" with a "major pop star" that went unidentified. "I'm not dating, I'm single," the agent added. "Put that in the story."
July 2021
The duo made their first public appearance in Phoenix at Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns.
August 2021
Us confirmed that the duo had been dating "for months," traveling between Los Angeles and New York to see each other.
September 2021
The twosome turned heads at Davis' wedding, held at the Beverly Hills Hotel in California. "They were so nice," eyewitness Engels Oscar, a cousin of the bride, exclusively told Us after the ceremony. "He was at the table the whole time, and he let her just do whatever she wanted. … She was dancing with everybody. They would hug at the table. They're a nice couple."
September 2021
Adele introduced her Instagram followers to her beau with a series of glamorous snaps from the wedding, including one that showed her and Paul posing in a photo booth.
October 2021
In an interview with Vogue, the "All I Ask" singer gushed about how "safe" Paul makes her feel. "I don't feel anxious or nervous or frazzled," she explained. "It's quite the opposite. It's wild. ... I'm a 33-year-old divorced mother of a son, who's actually in charge. The last thing I need is someone who doesn't know where they're at, or what they want. I know what I want. And I really know what I don't want."
She added that she didn't mean to go public with their romance at the NBA game - she just wanted to spend some time with her boyfriend. "I just love being around him. I just love it," she said. "He was like, 'What are people going to say?' And I was like, 'That you signed me. As an athlete. You're my agent.' And he was like, 'OK, cool.'"
November 2021
The pair were spotted leaving the London Palladium together following the filming of her TV special An Audience With Adele, which marked her first U.K. performance in four years.
During a Rolling Stone interview later that month, Adele revealed the pair met years ago at a mutual friend's birthday party while they were both dancing to Drake. She also shared that she reconnected with Paul one week after the death of her father in May.
November 2021
During a CBS special, Adele detailed her bond with her new beau. "He's just hilarious. Oh, he's so funny, he's hilarious, yeah. And very smart. You know, he's very, very smart. It's quite incredible watching him do what he does," she shared, noting that this is the first relationship she's loved herself enough to be really able to love someone else. "It's just timing. But it'd be interesting to see what my reaction is like in general to anything that hurts me now that I feel so secure in myself, and I'm talking outside of romance as well."
December 2021
Adele shared her support for her man via Instagram Stories. She posted a photo of her shoe, which has a label reading Rich Paul for New Balance. "Amazing!" a sticker on the photo read. She also captioned the fancy footwear photo with a message for her love: "Congratulations @RichPaul." He reposted the Story to his own account with a heart emoji.
February 2022
Adele leaned on her boyfriend after her Las Vegas residency was postponed at the last minute. "It's fair to say this is the most challenging period of her career thus far, but she's in it to win it and digging deep to bounce back," a source told Us in February 2022.
While Adele's life was "tense" as she worked through her Sin City staging issues, the insider told Us that Adele and Paul are "still solid" and "committed" to their relationship.
May 2022
One year after the pair were rumored to have begun dating, Adele shared several photos from the course of their relationship, including a picture of Paul giving the singer a kiss ahead of her Griffith Observatory performance in November 2021. "Time flies," she wrote via Instagram, alongside the pictures. The final slide showed Adele holding up a fortune that reads, "You have found good company - enjoy."
June 2022
Shortly after Paul confessed that he is "looking forward to being a different dad" if he has more children, a source told Us exclusively that he and Adele have been thinking about starting a family together. "Adele and Rich a lot of trust and respect for each other and both want to have kids with each other eventually," the insider said in June 2022, adding that the duo have the full support of their loved ones. "Rich truly treats Adele like a queen, all of her friends love him and love them as a couple."
June 2022
The twosome attended NBA star Kevin Love's wedding to Kate Bock alongside James and his wife, Savannah James. LeBron shared a photo from the festivities via Instagram, adding the caption: "ICONIC."
July 2022
Paul was spotted supporting Adele at her London concerts in Hyde Park alongside her ex-husband.
July 2022
While speaking to BBC Sounds' "Desert Island Discs" podcast, "I have a whole setup of how I move - and no one ever knows - just so I can go out and be completely carefree. I think now, the relationship that I'm in, he's like, 'If you want to go to that restaurant, you should go and try the food at that restaurant. And if you want to go to this birthday party, you should be going. You can't miss out on these things. What's the worst that could happen?'"
She also revealed that he understands her priorities. "Just the other day, Rich was like ‘You take sleeping so seriously.' He was like ‘You're like the Mike Tyson of sleeping,'" the BRIT Award winner joked at the time.
July 2022
The couple spent some downtime on a boat in Sardinia for summer holidays.
July 2022
"Adele has no doubt in her mind that her long-term future belongs with Rich," a source exclusively told Us, adding that the sports agent is "dream husband material" for the "Chasing Pavements" artist. An engagement is also seemingly on the horizon, it's just "a question of when and how he pops the question at this point," the insider revealed. The Ohio native has "everything she's looking for in a partner" and is a "great leveler in terms of personality," the source told Us of the couple. "She can be pretty Type A," the insider explained, adding that the "Make You Feel My Love" crooner and ex-husband Simon Konecki had "great times together" but with Paul "it's very different and new." The singer simply "loves how ambitious he" is, and the fact he's "not fazed or impressed by status or limelight" is a big draw for her, the source said. "She's like, ‘When you know, you know.'"
August 2022
The "I Drink Wine" singer gushed over Paul in Elle's September 2022 cover story, but she shut down rumors that the duo were secretly engaged. "I've never been in love like this," she said. "I'm obsessed with him. ... I'm not engaged. I just love high-end jewelry, boy!"
Though they hadn't taken the next step yet, Adele said she would "absolutely" get married again. "I definitely want more kids," she added. "I'm a homemaker and I'm a matriarch, and a stable life helps me with my music. But right now, all I got in my brain is Vegas. I wanna f--king nail it."
November 2022
Adele kicked off her Las Vegas residency on November 19 after previous postponements, and her boyfriend was sweetly spotted showing his support in the audience.
December 2022
"I love you more than life itself - we wish you [a] happy birthday," Adele told Paul in the middle of her December 17 performance in Las Vegas, shortly before leading concertgoers in a rendition of "Happy Birthday," per footage shared via social media.
February 2023
Adele, who rocked a one-shoulder burgundy gown, and Paul sat side-by-side at the 65th annual Grammy Awards.
May 2023
The twosome attended Game 3 of the NBA Playoffs at Los Angeles' Crypto.com Arena.
August 2024
The "Hello" singer confirmed that she and Paul were engaged at one of her Munich, Germany concerts. When a fan held up a sign that read, "Will you marry me?" Adele replied, "I can't marry you because I'm already getting married!"
June 2026
While appearing on the June 9 episode of the "Glass Half Full" podcast, Paul was asked by host Craig Melvin about his first meetings with Adele.
"I had known her for some time," he recalled. "You know, just when you're in these circles, man, you're in these circles. But I never tried to get fresh with people that's in comfortable circles because they always have to deal with that, so that was never my thing. It was really something that happened very organically, really."
As for how things went from friends to something more, Paul played coy.
"Until it became not so cordial," he said with a laugh. "Until I became a person of interest."
Copyright Us Weekly. All rights reserved.
This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 11:09 AM.