by Paloma Faith has revealed that she is considering quitting music and embarking on a surprising new career.
The singer, 42, recently wrote a self-titled album The Glorification of Sorrow about her break-up with Leyman Lahcine, with whom she shares two young daughters.
Paloma, who is determined to put her children first, admitted that she is now considering becoming a teacher during a candid interview with Jamie Lang.
However, she has said that even if she makes the switch, she wants to put out at least one more record.
“My mum always tells me I have to train to be a teacher,” the British singer said on an episode of Great company with Jamie Lang.
“She’s like, ‘You’ve had kids, you’ve done the pop star thing. Go and do a PGCE [teacher training] because then you can have the same holidays as your children’. I’m thinking about it. I might put out one more record.”
The revelation came amid an open conversation where she admitted she still loves her ex-partner, Leyman Lahcine.
“The heartbreak will be forever. You can’t really let go of someone you have kids with,” she said.
“Some people never speak [to their exes] again, but they are still very present because you see that person in your children.
“In my case, it’s even harder because we really like each other and we still love each other. It’s really confusing. It’s heartbreaking every time we see each other.”
The breakdown of the relationship, confirmed in 2022, is detailed in the new album, which the singer said explores the different stages of grief.
Paloma said that’s what makes this a “different kind of heartbreak album”.
She explained: “Because the heartbreak will be there forever and the shape of our relationship will change forever, we’ll probably die. You can’t really let go of someone you have kids with.”
She continued: “Because you look at your children and you see that person in your children. Or they come back from visiting them – your partner or ex-partner – and they’re doing their own thing or have opinions that you don’t agree with.
“It’s even harder, I think in a way, because we really liked each other. We’re really close and still love each other, and that’s confusing. That is really sad. So it’s kind of heartbreaking every time we see each other. It’s very raw because of the kids.”
The Independent He was the first person to sit down with Faith after the split. In the interview, she expanded on how having children disrupted the couple’s relationship.
“People always ask, what did you do? What did he do? But it was a fundamental breakdown that we were both in charge of save or release.”
Faith told this publication that she traces the beginning of the end to December 2016, when she became a mother to the first of their two daughters.
“You grow together, adapting to each other like expandable foam and filling the gaps where it’s empty – or one grows and the other stays the same,” she said.
“And I think being a mother was such a life-changing experience for me, for the first time in my life, I needed more than anything – and the expandable foam wasn’t there.”
She later said: “Our relationship ended because we have those children. And I think that was worth it.”
Despite this, a clearly emotional Faith told Laing that she still feels so strongly about her old habits that there’s even a song on the album she can’t listen to: “Divorce“.
She said: “There is one song [on the album] i can’t hear callin’Divorce‘. I don’t think I’ll play it live because I get too upset.
“It’s basically all the stuff that made me feel emotional in a song now – it’s got my kids’ voices in it. I recorded them playing in the garden.”
Faith, who was married to Rian Haynes in her early 20s, admitted that she is dealing with this heartbreak in a different way.
She said: “You have to go through [heartbreak].
“In the past, I’ve always dealt with it by pushing it to one side and filling that void with someone else. I would replace. Not immediately, but very quickly. Now I have children it doesn’t sit right.
“I’ve tried chat, but it doesn’t work. I’m trying to figure out how to have a relationship with myself. I don’t think I’ve ever had one.”
The singer admitted that resentment ultimately led to the breakup, telling Laing, 35, that she did ‘too much’ in the relationship.
“There was a lot of difference between what I put into it compared to it,” she said. “But not love, I think we were equal on that – but in practice.
“Having children was a big change for me. I have always been very motherly, but I have never been able to mother anyone but the child or the other child – [not a partner or even a friend].
“Friends even said to me: ‘You don’t pay attention to me like you used to.’
“I don’t think there’s enough acknowledgment of the pressure or the work that women do when they’re mothers.”
