Paloma Faith has admitted her breakup from husband Leyman Lahcine was ‘the worst thing that’s ever happened to me in my life’.
The singer and mother-of-two, 42, married the French artist, 36, in 2017 before confirming they’d split in 2022 after nine years together.
Speaking on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast, Paloma confirmed she and Leyman are still in touch, but sometimes the conversations can be ‘harrowing’.
Paloma used the grieving process of the relationship as inspiration for her new album The Glorification of Sadness and its lead single How You Leave A Man.
She said: ‘It’s about the worst breakup I’ve ever had, because it’s the longest relationship I’ve ever had, and we obviously had two kids together, so it’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to me in my life that I couldn’t ignore when I was writing, but also the most private I feel about it because there’s kids involved, so it’s weird but I’m hoping the songs speak for themselves.
Candid: Paloma Faith has admitted her breakup from husband Leyman Lahcine was ‘the worst thing that’s ever happened to me in my life’ (pictured together in 2015)
History: The singer and mother-of-two, 42, married the French artist, 36, in 2017 before confirming they’d split in 2022 after nine years together (pictured in October 2023)
‘I’m not mincing my words, am I, when I’m doing a song called How You Leave A Man? It’s like, “Oh I wonder what it’s about.” But I find it liberating.
‘I feel like the whole album, when you go from start to finish, it’s basically chronicling the stages of grief and it goes from the self destructive moments to the insular moments to the really vulnerable moments and actually the kind of unusual bits for me as a female artist are the empowered moments.’
Paloma described the breakup as ‘devastating’ and told how supporting messages from her fans online feel like a form of therapy.
She said: ‘I think quite often, people sing about heartbreak and remorse and stuff but they never sing about empowerment, so I feel like that’s important as a feminist.’
‘So, it’s sort of the acceptance that all of these stages of recovery from massive life changing events are acceptable and you have to love and appreciate yourself.
‘I think for me, what I’m really enjoying about it, is that even though it’s been devastating and hard and all that, through the campaign I’m managing to sprinkle a bit of humour.
‘Oh lets laugh in the face of adversity, it’s quite a sort of camp response to tragedy.
‘But I feel like that in itself is helpful to me. It’s kind of group therapy when I go online and people are like, ‘yes, girl!’
Difficult: Paloma confirmed she and Leyman are still in touch, but sometimes the conversations can be ‘harrowing’ (pictured in 2014)
The star also confirmed she and Lyman still keep up a friendly relationship for the benefit of their daughters who are six and two.
She said: ‘I’m still friends with my ex because we have to be, because we’ve got two children.
‘I’ve had moments where we’ve been speaking and it’s been really harrowing, deconstructing what went wrong and everything and then I look up at him and we’re both just cracking up!
‘We’re like, “Is this inappropriate? Oh god!” The other day I was like, “Do I look really ugly because I’ve been crying so much?” and he was just like, ‘Yeah, you look hideous.”
‘But I find it so helpful that we’re both on that sort of same page. He’s just like, ‘yeah, appalling.’ It’s just destruction!’
‘I don’t know if I believe in happy endings, but I suppose subconsciously we’re fed them all the time. Aren’t we? Like, as kids and in fairy stories and stuff.
She said: ‘It’s the longest relationship I’ve ever had, and we obviously had two kids together, so it’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to me in my life’ (pictured in 2018)
‘My mum’s absolutely hilarious about everything. She’s like, “Never read your children’s fairy stories! They’re damaging!”
‘Or the other day she sent me a message saying, “I just want for the record you to know that we’re not anti-men. We’re just very disappointed.”‘
Elsewhere during the interview, Paloma opened up about her thoughts on body image, saying she has become more confident with age.
She explained: ‘It’s sod’s law that when you’ve got your best body when you’re really young, you’ve got no confidence whatsoever.
‘And then your body, like, just goes to rubbish, and you’re like, “Yes, I am empowered!” I just love, you’ve got all this confidence, and in my case, obviously, post breastfeeding, my nipples look like a pair of gnarled dog toys.’
