Adele finally explains what she was so ‘f***ing livid’ about on the phone outside Heathrow

Pictures of singer having an intense conversation went viral last year

Adele has finally explained the story behind a picture of her speaking angrily on the phone that went viral in February last year.

The singer, who has just released her new album 30, was seen having what looked like an intense conversation on the phone, stepping out of a car at Heathrow Airport in London.

She was dressed all in black – a Nike hoodie, trackies, trainers and Moncler puffer jacket – and had perfectly manicured fingernails. Pictures of the moment went viral, with many on social media speculating over what she was so upset about.

Now, in a new interview with The Face, Adele has explained what was happening.

“I was f***ing livid when I got off that plane, f***ing hell!,” she said. “[The phone call] was with one of my friends. I wasn’t actually shouting at someone, I was telling the story of something that had happened to my best friend, Laura.”

She added that she had put her hood up “because I know there are paps that are sneaky up there”.

Elsewhere in the interview, Adele discussed the reactions to her recent weight loss, her struggle with postnatal depression and criticism of her new album.

The record, Adele’s first in six years, was given four stars by The Independent’s critic Annabel Nugent, who wrote: “Lyrically, 30 is candid. Adele has always been forthright – every bad feeling you’ve felt, she has confessed to feeling too – but there is a new immediacy here. Earlier songs spoke in platitudes and broad strokes.

“They projected human emotions onto the natural world – a shallow valley, a shelter in the rain, the river running nearby where she grew up.

“But the singer of 30 is more literal. Adele unmediated. Adele unfiltered. Adele opening her Notes app at 3am mid-anxiety attack and jotting down whatever comes to mind.”