Paloma Faith has opened up about the breakdown of her 10-year relationship, saying becoming a mother was the catalyst for the split. The singer, 42, said the end of the relationship was a 'fundamental breakdown' that both parties were in control of saving or letting go, and they chose to let go.
Faith, who has two daughters with her former partner, French visual artist Leyman Lahcine, said she can trace the beginning of the end to December 2016, when she became a mother for the first time. 'You either grow together, adapting to one another like expandable foam and filling the gaps where it’s empty – or one person grows and the other stays the same,' she said. 'For me, becoming a mother was such a massively life-changing experience that for the first time in my life, I needed more than nothing – and the expandable foam just wasn’t there.'
Despite the pain of the split, Faith said having her children was worth the end of the relationship. 'Our relationship ended because we have those children. And I think that was worth it,' she said. Faith is currently promoting her new album, 'Glorification of Sadness', which she describes as a divorce album without the divorce, chronicling the emotions she felt after the breakup.
The singer admitted she is still adjusting to being a single mother, a label her own mother wore. 'I am a woman in my forties with two children, who is not with their dad any more,' she said. 'I’m very much in the thick of adjusting to that fact. It takes a long time to recover because it’s not like when you’re young, you can’t cut your ties and run.'
