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Well, Hello! Adele is now social-media official with her boyfriend, Rich Paul.
Over the weekend the When We Were Young singer took to Instagram to share an elegant black-and-white selfie of herself and the sports agent. The pic was taken while attending basketball star Anthony Davis' wedding in Los Angeles.
The 33-year-old singer put the picture at the end of a carousel showcasing her outfit from the wedding. She wore a black Schiaparelli gown with cloud-like white off-the-shoulder overlay, and she accessorized with large gold and pearl teeth earrings.
Adele and Rich first set tounges wagging in July when they were spotted looking all cosy at Game 5 of the NBA Finals, in which the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns.
Rich was there with his client, basketball icon LeBron James, to support friend Chris Paul, a player for the Suns.
During the game ESPN's Brian Windhorst, a close friend of Rich’s, confirmed their romance when he quipped: “Rich Paul brings his girlfriend to the game to sit next to LeBron. His girlfriend is Adele."
Another well-placed insider says the Hello crooner is “100%” dating the NBA power broker.
Adele and Rich have kept their romance pretty private but by all accounts it seems the two have been rolling in the deep for months now. In a May 2021 interview with the New Yorker, Paul (39) mentions he’s been “hanging out” with a major pop star.
Here’s what we know about Adele’s new man.
HE'S A SELF-MADE MAN
Growing up he wanted to be an athlete and played basketball and football. However, while his “heart is big”, Rich says he was “small in size”, so he switched passions to become an entrepreneur and businessman in the sporting world.
He started out selling sports jerseys and met his first client, LeBron, in 2002 while waiting for a flight to Atlanta.
These days he’s a long way from selling vintage jerseys from the boot of his car and runs Klutch Sports Group, which represents LeBron and other American sporting heavyweights such as Ben Simmons, John Wall and Anthony Davis. Klutch, which launched in 2012, has to date received over $1 billion in contract values.
HE HAD A ROUGH CHILDHOOD
Much like Adele, Rich comes from humble beginnings.
His mother, Peaches, battled drug abuse, forcing him to live with his grandmother and a great-uncle growing up.
“I was never really angry, but I was definitely protective, and I was definitely sad in a lot of ways,” he says. “Because, as a kid, you see other kids and their experience with their parents, and you want the same.”
Rich didn’t let his background prevent him from chasing his dreams.
In fact, NBA superstar LeBron (36) credits Rich’s difficult childhood for his success in the cutthroat sports-management industry. “A lot of these kids being brought into these situations and being drafted are first-generation money-makers,” LeBron says.
“And Rich and I are from that as well, so he can relate to these kids,” he continues. “There is nothing they’ve seen that he hasn’t seen, so he is able to have real conversations with them.”
HE'S ABOUT TO BECOME AN AUTHOR
The big-time sports agent is busy penning his first memoir, Lucky Me, for Roc Lit 101 – the publishing division of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. “I cannot tell you what it means to partner with my friend and mentor, Jay-Z, on this project,” he says.
The book will delve into his early background, growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, and the lessons he’s learnt during his rise to prominence. “Lucky Me is more than my story,” Rich says. “Lucky Me is the story of every young black man who grew up like me.
“I want to use my story to uplift and inspire those who lived this and educate those who didn’t.”
PAST FLAMES
Rich has three kids but has never been married. Not much is known about the low-key businessman's love life, but he was linked to Tobey Maguire's ex-wife, jewellery designer Jennifer Meyer, in 2019. Adele, for her part, finalised her divorce from non-profit CEO Simon (47) in March 2021, after announcing their split in 2019. The pair, who were together for seven years, have an eight-year-old son, Angelo.
Sources: eonline.com, pagesix.com, tmz.com, espn.com, newyorker.com, elle.com, time.com, nytimes.com
