Paloma Faith reacts to claims she lies about her age

Paloma Faith has come clean about her age and her secret marriage in a tell-all chat with Guilty Pleasures.

The flame haired Hackney crooner tackled the rumour mill after it emerged she is actually 32 when it was believed she was 28.

‘I don’t think it is really relevant or matters how old I am. I think what matters is the music and the performances and the way I behave. I don’t think I behave like someone in their 30s. Or maybe I do? Maybe I act like someone in their 50s who has got old enough to not give a s*** anymore,’ the singer said, insisting women are put under pressure over age.

‘When I feel like talking about my age or I feel it is relevant, I will talk about it,’ she added.

She also revealed she hasn’t given up on love even though it was recently revealed she has been through a divorce following a secret marriage to a New Zealand chef.

‘It was just a young, frivolous thing. We were in our early twenties and we did something quickly and realised it was a mistake. But we’re still close. I am still friends with him. All my other relationships were the ones that screwed me up, not that one!’ she said of her marriage to Rian Haynes which ended in 2009 after four years.

The quirky dresser was speaking at the Faith in Art at Albums for Art’s gallery in London, where she also said she would never allow a record label to pressure her about how to dress.

‘I feel like I put myself under so much pressure to keep certain standards that I do it more than anyone else would. I’m not easily told what to do either,’ she said.

‘I think everyone has always celebrated the way that I have styled myself and there is something brave about it. Even when I’ve been critisised, my label and everyone has always been really supportive of my decision to be me and not give a s*** about what people think.

‘Recently, actually, people have been more complimentary but I’m convinced it’s because I’ve lost some weight. It’s weird that in society you have to lose weight and wear the same clothes before people think [you] look good,’ she said, at the exhibition of her album and singles artwork from over the years.

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures Sunday 1 December 2013]