BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA: Adele has disclosed that she had to quit her "addiction" to buying illuminated miniature Christmas villages after concealing them from her partner, Rich Paul.
The 35-year-old singing sensation, who recently earned praise for defending a fan at her Las Vegas residency concert, revealed that her fascination with the villages has spiraled out of control, resulting in her amassing 800 of them, which now occupy two rooms in her $57 million Beverly Hills mansion.
Adele's newfound obsession
Speaking during a recent concert, Adele admitted to spending thousands of dollars on these items, often purchasing them through online auctions on eBay or acquiring entire collections from estate sales of deceased homeowners.
She expressed regret about her obsession, stating, "I was very excited about it at the time, and I've come to regret it."
"And I realized it's this bit grim, and I'm not making a joke. I realized quite quickly on eBay that there were lots of estate sales going on of people's collections of these small houses. So I bought all of them," she added, according to Daily Mail.
"Two bedrooms at my house are filled with these f***ing houses and I don't want to be those people that do it at Christmas time," Adele quipped. "And it takes over a whole room, but I don't have anywhere to put these houses."
"I don't want to put them into storage because they were people's collections in their lifetimes," she continued. "So I've been buying things on Amazon, really wide cupcake displays and things like that, to try and work out a way of displaying these f***ng villages."
"And I can't sell them or give them away again because this is from people's lives. I don't know what to do," she lamented.
"And also I thought they would be battery operated, you can't do that with these things because there's lots of moving parts going on," she said.
"So I have about 800 f*****g houses and 800 different sets of cables, that I need to find a way of plugging in somewhere," Adele revealed.
She humorously shared that her three-week miniature village obsession felt like she has "had it for 50 years, even if I've only had it for a week." She added, "I told all my friends about it because I actually live quite a boring life. So I told them, "oh my God guys, I found my passion, I found my calling."'
"So if I start giving them to people as Christmas presents, they're going to be like, you didn't buy this for me, you just bought it for yourself," Adele said. "So I am really stuck on what to do with my new hobby that I've completely lost interest in."
Adele says she hides her obsession from BF
On a humorous note, Adele admitted to hiding the villages from her boyfriend, Paul, a basketball player agent who shares her homes in LA. She said, "The worst thing is when two or three had arrived, I showed my boyfriend, he was like, "okay, don't get carried away. Don't get carried away."
"I was like, "they are just so cute". And I didn't tell him about all the others," she revealed.
"What am I supposed to say to him when he tries to go into one of the bedrooms? It is crazy. I'm going to say that someone gave them to me for free or something," she said.
"Anyway....that's my hobby that's gone out the window. So I need to get a new one," she added.
Adele had previously mentioned her love for these villages during one of her residency concerts. They are available for purchase at prices ranging from $38 to $114 each from the US-based retailer Department 56.
She stated at one of her residency concerts: "You’re going to think I’m an old woman. I went on eBay and suddenly discovered light-up miniature Christmas villages. I went a bit crazy. I’ve spent a lot of money."
She added: "Then I found a Dickens one with loads of London landmarks. I got a bit addicted… really, my main goal is to figure out some kind of socket situation to plug in all the wires."
