Paloma Faith has admitted her ‘lack of attention’ towards her ex ex husband Leyman Lahcine led to the breakdown of their marriage.
The mother-of-two, 42, married the French artist, 36, in 2017 before confirming they’d split in 2022 after nine years together.
Addressing their relationship in a new interview on Thursday, Paloma explained how their relationship changed after they welcomed their young daughters.
Speaking to The Times, the singer said that although she now ‘has a good relationship with her children’s father now, ‘resentment built’ when she could no longer ‘put him first.’
Paloma explained: ‘I have a really good relationship with the kids’ dad so sometimes it’s like, ‘What are we doing? Why are we not together?’ But the key to the success of our relationship now is absence of expectation. Expectation leads to disappointment.’
Paloma Faith, 42, has admitted her ‘lack of attention’ towards her ex ex husband Leyman Lahcine led to the breakdown of their marriage
The mother-of-two, married the French artist, 36, in 2017 before confirming they’d split in 2022 after nine years together (pictured together in 2018)
She added: ‘Much of the problem was that she could no longer spare the attention for Lahcine he enjoyed when they were childless. Men like to be put first and resentment builds.
‘It’s nice to have a cuddle, but what people want from a relationship I’m not able to give at this point. Men struggle to be put second.’
It comes after Paloma admitted her breakup from husband Leyman was ‘the worst thing that’s ever happened to me in my life’ in an interview on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast.
Paloma confirmed she and Leyman are still in touch, but sometimes the conversations can be ‘harrowing’ – describing the separation as ‘devastating’, yet ‘liberating’.
The singer-songwriter 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.
‘I couldn’t ignore it 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.
‘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.’
Addressing their relationship in a new interview on Thursday, Paloma explained how their relationship changed after they welcomed their children
Speaking to The Times , the singer said that although she now ‘has a good relationship with her children’s father now, ‘resentment built’ when she could no longer ‘put him first’ (pictured in October 2023)
Paloma added: ‘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!’
The star also confirmed she and Lyman still keep up a friendly relationship for the benefit of their daughters who are six and two.
Paloma confirmed she and Leyman are still in touch, but sometimes the conversations can be ‘harrowing’ (pictured in 2014)
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!’
