Everybody has been talking about Adele this week. The Grammy-winning singer shared a photograph to mark her birthday, which shows her celebrating at home during lockdown. She wears a classic LBD and grins from ear to ear, clearly thankful to be “safe and sane during this crazy time”. She also took the opportunity to wish her fans well and thank the NHS and keyworkers for all their work during the pandemic. 

It’s the first time Adele has shared a message with fans since December, so it’s naturally gone viral. But this mass response has been uncomfortable to watch – because it fixates on her body.

As ever, tabloid coverage has honed in on Adele’s so-called “transformation”. Type the multi-award winning musician’s name into Google and it now brings up countless “weight loss” results. And “skinny Adele” memes have started to circulate across social media.

They compare “skinny Adele” to pizza, fried chicken and ice cream. I Weigh co-founder Jameela Jamil has perfectly articulated the big problem with this.

She wrote on Twitter: “Adele would hate this so much. I’m so glad she isn’t on here to see people weaponise her body against women. These memes are everywhere.”

She continues: “This is so offensive. So destructive. So reductive. It encourages us to demonise and become afraid of food.”

Jamil is, of course, completely right. And this isn’t the first time she has encouraged us to maintain a positive relationship between our diet and bodies during lockdown. 

“If you’re struggling with your weight and image in a moment of new foods, less exercise, and general loss of control,just try to breathe and know it is only your responsibility to stay safe and protect others, not to be thin,” she tweeted. 

The most important thing to take away from Adele’s birthday photo is that she “liked” her own Instagram post. She is publicly reminding the world that she is happy with who she is. 

And that is something we can probably all take some reassurance from during this time. 

Images: Getty