Paloma Faith thinks a break-up can be worse than death: 'You're both still alive, death is just sad'

Paloma Faith thinks a break-up can be harder to deal with than death.

The 42-year-old singer split from husband Leyman Lahcine - with whom she has two daughters aged seven and three - in 2023 after almost a decade together and even though she attended five funerals in the last year alone, she still struggled with the break-up more than anything else.

Speaking on the 'How to Fail' podcast, she told host Elizabeth Day: "Nothing impacted is quite as much as the breakup because death is so permanent so there's nothing you can really be doing about that, whereas a breakup you're both alive.

"There are times when we see each other and it's amazing and I think 'What are we doing?' but then there are times when I'm reminded and I'm like 'Oh, that's why'. Yeah, I think that's more thought-provoking to me than the permanence of death because death's just sad. It's irretrievable, there's nothing...you can't go beyond it."

The 'How You Leave a Man' songstress - who was initially married to chef Rian Haynes from 2005 until 2009 - explained that because there are children involved, the split is "dramatically different" to any break-up she has been through before and has been "forced to pretend" to get along with Leyman as she admitted he is probably more "important" than any new man that may come into her life because he is the father of her kids.

"It feels so dramatically different because you can't do the initial bit where you need space and you see 'I can't see you anymore'.

"You're forced to do that and I was forced, at times, because I put myself under the pressure, to pretend to get along or pretend that we weren't both absolutely devasted. It gets confusing. It still gets confusing; it's like a never-ending breakup. I feel bad for anyone who dates me because he's so wrapped up in my children that he's almost more important than anyone else who might come along."

"Not that I would cuddle up in bed with him or anything like that, of course I wouldn't but that separation...I put him before I do most people because he's the father of my kids."