Londoner Adele has admitted that the public reaction to the cancellation of her Las Vegas residency shows was "brutal" and that she was a "shell of a person" in the following months.

The 'Hello' songstress was due to play a slew of shows from January to April this year at Caesars Palace, but these were cancelled at very short notice.

Adele appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs saying she "definitely felt everyone’s disappointment" following the cancellations and admitted she felt "devastated."

The 34-year-old singer told host Lauren Laverne: "I was frightened about letting them down and I thought I could pull it together and make it work, and I couldn’t.

"I stand by that decision. I don’t think any other artist would have done what I did, and I think that is why it was such a massive, massive story. It was like, 'I don’t care’ and things like that. You can’t buy me. You can’t buy me for nothing. I’m not going to just do a show because I have to or because people are going to be let down or because we are going to lose loads of money. I’m like, ‘The show is not good enough’.

"Of course I could be someone on TikTok or Instagram Live every day being like, ‘I am working on it’. Of course I am working on it! I’m not going to update you if I haven’t got anything to update you with, because that just leads to more disappointment. Maybe that’s not been well balanced either … Maybe my silence has been deadly. I don’t know. But it was horrible and the reaction was brutal. I was a shell of a person for a couple of months."

Host Laverne asked the performer how she dealt with the repercussions from the announcement. Adele said: "I just had to wait it out and just grieve it. Just grieve the shows and get over the guilt. But it was brutal."

The singer featured on Desert Island Discs just ahead of her two sold-out Hyde Park concerts as part of the British Summer Time festival in London.

The recent divorcee also spoke about her strained relationship with her recently deceased father, who she reconciled with shortly before his passing from cancer in 2021. She divulged: "When I found out that he was ill a few years ago, I got the call and I drove straight there. It was hard but it was definitely one of the biggest moments of my life in a good way, when I went to go and see him.

"I made the peace with him when I found out he was sick. And we really got on, which was amazing, but also sad because he was really bloody funny. He is really funny and I don’t remember that when I was little. But it was really nice. We laughed and we gossiped and we cried. It was great for both of us."

The mother-of-one also discussed her recent weight loss, saying she understood why the press had been so interested as she didn't share her journey publicly "like everyone else does". She added: "I felt terrible for some people that felt like other people’s comments meant that they weren’t looking good or that they weren’t beautiful.

"Some of the ones I saw were young, they were like 15. And there were some other people who felt very betrayed by me, being like "Oh she’s given into the pressure of it." Which didn’t really bother me because you aren’t holding my hand at night at 4am when I’m crying my heart out with anxiety and needing a distraction."

The singer discussed further topics with Laverne, like what she wants from life. Adele, who already shares one son Angelo with her ex-husband Simon Konecki, said she does want more children with her boyfriend, American sports agent Rich Paul. The singer-songwriter went further, saying: "I definitely would like a couple more kids. It would be wonderful if we can. If not, I have got Angelo. I just want to be happy."

Adele’s musical choices for the show included 'Dreams' by Gabrielle, 'He Needs Me' by Nina Simone and 'Bills, Bills, Bills' by Destiny’s Child.

The 'Someone Like You' songstress left fans stunned by her stellar two nights in Hyde Park, donning a pride flag on stage and stopping the shows multiple times to ensure fans' safety.