Jefferson Cárdenas

Adele sold over 120 million records. Her father walked out when she was 3, then sold a story about her to The Sun. She said if she ever saw him again she would spit in his face. Then he got cancer. And she went to Wales to see him. Her dad was an alcoholic who left her mum alone in Tottenham. Adele grew up with nothing from him. No presence. No effort. The day she got famous, he talked to the tabloids instead of talking to her. "He has no right to talk about me," she said. Years later he was dying. She played him her albums over Zoom. He had only ever heard one of her songs. He died in May 2021. They made peace first. In the video below she tells Oprah: "My dad's absolute lack of presence and effort with me." And then: "We forgave each other." The case for forgiving: he was sick, he was dying, and holding the grudge only kept her own wound open. She says it closed the biggest hole in her life. The case for walking away: he skipped her whole childhood and only showed up once there was money and fame to talk about. Forgiveness at the end costs him nothing. Would you forgive a parent who abandoned you and then sold your story? Yes or no?