We knew we liked Adele, because aside from having more Grammys than fingers and producing heartfelt bops without missing a beat, she's maintained her knack for keeping it real. You can take the girl out of Tottenham, but… that doesn't mean she won't chant the Hotspurs anthem when interviewed for Vogue.
When she isn't educating us on the correct way to eat a bag of Walkers crisps (doused in Worcester sauce, fyi – “those soggy ones at the bottom are the best”), or signing off an acceptance speech with a middle-fingered salute (because: never cut Adele off halfway through), she's word-vomming whatever pops into her head to her fans, in the best way.
Often, Adele's performances are littered with the sort of intimate interactions that you'd cackle over with your best mates at dinner. Only, you know, she just does it in front of an audience of several thousands, all capturing and uploading the moments to share with millions more.
Case in point: on Sunday the singer interrupted her set to tell fans gathered at Caesars Palace Colosseum for her Weekends With Adele residency in Las Vegas that being a performer isn't always all it's cracked up to be. She admitted that the stage outfits and bright lights can be a sticky combination, after developing “jock itch” from wearing her Spanx.
How to swerve the common condition.
“Do you know what my doctor gave me? It is a bit crude but I never knew it existed," she asked fans after declaring “I need a towel, Jesus!”
“Me and my team were talking about it earlier. Obviously when I do my shows I wear Spanx to keep it all in and make it all fit me,” Adele shared. “And I sweat a lot and it doesn’t go anywhere,” she added. “So basically I just sit in my own sweat,” she explained, revealing “my doctor gave me Jock Itch [cream].”
For the uninitiated, jock itch is a form of fungal infection affecting the groin, according to the NHS. It “causes an itchy rash in warm, moist areas of the body [that] often affects the groin and inner thighs and may be shaped like a ring,” the Mayo Clinic says. As for the name, “jock itch gets its name because it's common in athletes. It's also common in people who sweat a lot,” they say, which is why they advise drying off quickly with a clean towel after exercising and wearing loose-fitting clothing. “Tight-fitting clothes can chafe your skin and up the risk of jock itch,” they say, (so Spanx is out).
Seeing the funny side, Adele added “it looks like I am an athlete […] I have to squirt it on myself,” before wondering out loud “I don’t know why the f*ck I just told you that.” But she persevered, anyways, telling fans, “talking of body acne I have started weight lifting again like no-one's business. And I am absolutely loving it.”
It's funny. A generation ago, you'd never have believed that the world's most bankable stars would openly share what's going on in their Spanx, but Adele's unfiltered, unembarrassed and totally iconic admission is what makes us love her even more. And it helps to recalibrate what it means to be beautiful in an age of FaceTune, Ozempic and TikTok filters. Namely, talent, humility, humour and even, a bit of groin sweat.
So next time you watch your favourite celeb up on stage and wonder what it must be like to be them, just know they're dealing with the same stuff as everyone else. But if they're Adele, they've just learnt to give less f*cks. Keep up the good work, hun.
For more from GLAMOUR's Beauty Editor, Elle Turner, follow her on Instagram @elleturneruk
