Taking the next step? Adele was photographed wearing a large diamond ring at the 42nd Brit Awards in London — and the stunning accessory had people talking.
Before taking home the Song of the Year trophy for “Easy on Me” at the event on Tuesday, February 8, Adele, 33, walked down the red carpet in a sleek black Giorgio Armani Privé gown. The performer completed the look with a Lorraine Schwartz pear shape ring on her left hand, quickly igniting engagement rumors amid her romance with Rich Paul.
The duo were first linked in July 2021 when they were spotted together at a basketball game. At the time, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that Adele and Paul, 40, had been dating “for months” before making their public appearance.
“He’s very shy and keeps a low profile when they go out, whereas Adele is super sociable,” the insider noted. “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.”
The U.K. native made her new relationship Instagram official in September 2021, shortly after she finalized her divorce from Simon Konecki. The exes, who share 9-year-old son Angelo, called it quits in April 2019 after seven years together.
Though she’d been relatively private about her split, the “Rolling in the Deep” singer opened up about the end of her marriage in October 2021, telling Vogue, “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.”
Adele confessed that she “wasn’t happy” throughout her relationship with Konecki, 47, but she felt a difference with Paul.
“I don’t feel anxious or nervous or frazzled,” she told the outlet before releasing her fourth record, 30. “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.”
At the time, the Grammy winner shared that she loved “being around” her boyfriend after reconnecting at a party a “couple” of years earlier. “He was always there, I just didn’t see him,” she said “He was dancing. All the other guys were just sitting around. He was just dancing away.”
One month later, the songwriter gushed about finding the sports agent at exactly the right time.
“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 during her CBS special, Adele One Night Only, in November 2021. “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.”
Before her Brits appearance, Adele was forced to postpone her Las Vegas residency due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, a second source revealed to Us last month that the Oscar winner’s romance with Paul was “still solid,” saying, “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.”