Calling her real-life career dreams coming true, Adele got a bit teary during a surprise reunion with a second-grade teacher who she always said she wanted to be a teacher.
In the April 12 episode of “Adele: Live at the Apollo,” airing Sunday on NBC, the Grammy-winning songstress, 29, appeared on the show as a guest of the original choir teacher of Adele’s first school and said she’d never forgotten her.
In the 30-minute special, Adele and the teacher — Deborah Lane — both returned to the school to talk about the childhood memories and connect on a more personal level, with Adele admitting she was so overwhelmed at the thought of meeting her teacher again.
“Do you remember the other day when I said I wanted to be a teacher?” Adele asked her. “And all my friends were like, ‘You will never be a teacher.’ And you said, ‘You’ll go to university for two years and then you’ll go into teaching.’ That is so you,” Adele said to Lane.
When the female teacher started to begin to cry, Adele interjected, “You can actually cry at that.”
“I loved Adele’s music so much when I was your age. It was so motivating,” Lane recalled. “The songs are hard to cover, Adele, but we sure covered a lot. She is a wonderful person and she’s put me on my feet. That’s not an exaggeration.”
After Lane’s teary-eyed encounter with Adele, she held up a sign that read, “Why do I love you? Because you are myself.”
“I’ve always been yourself, I hope you’re always been you,” Adele said as she had the teacher sign the next sign.
Later in the special, the duo reminisced about the choir singing in the front row at the Grammys.
“To be able to see your smiling face like that . . . it’s just like in the back of your mind you were like, ‘DID I JUST DANCE?’ Oh my gosh, my life has changed,” Lane said.
The memorable exchange, for Adele, was enough to get her crying again.
“I can’t believe we’re here. Is this real life?” she said to Lane. “It’s crazy, because the last time we spoke we just got chatting and there was so much to talk about. And I thought we were going to disappear and I’d never see you again,” she said, still choking up.
Lane went on to say Adele’s likeness changed from elementary school to high school, with the songstress standing taller.
“That changed so much as she started high school.” Lane said. “You wore your big ripped jeans to high school, your eyeliner was really bright. Your hair was all different, and you didn’t worry about being a teenager. She was different, but she was still Adele, just bigger.”
Lane recounted how both girls competed with one another for “team blond” in gym class.
“And she was right and I was wrong and we both kind of knew it,” Lane recalled. “Adele was going to be the school girl who would stand out.”
In the end, it was Adele who stood out to Lane — and she is still amazed by the songstress’ ability to be so good at everything.
“I’m going to tell the class you had a popular girl like that,” Lane said. “You weren’t expected to be a good singer, but you were good at everything. And that’s amazing and it happens only once every two or three generations, I think. You’re an amazing woman and I want the world to see you for what you are.”