Turkish singer claims to be pop star Adele's father

Adele / Korea Times file

By Lee Han-soo

A Turkish folk singer says he is the biological father of famous pop star Adele, arguing they both have similar fingers, according to Turkish media.

Mehmet Asar, 52, who lives in Bodrum, said Adele has some resemblance to him.

“The third and fourth fingers of her right hand are adjacent ... I became even more surprised because my right hand's third and fourth fingers are also adjacent when I raise it,” Asar said in an interview with the Daily Sabah. “In addition, the highlights she makes when she is singing are similar to mine, which could also be genetic.”

The singer claimed he dated Penny Adkins, Adele’s mother, while working as a taxi driver.

“I gave Penny Adkins and her friends a tour of the bays of Bodrum and Pamukkale over two weeks,” Asar said. “She introduced herself to me as a nurse. We liked each other and had an affair for two weeks. She extended her vacation and returned to England one month later. She later came back to Bodrum twice and stayed for one month.

“She wanted to take me to England but I said that I wanted to stay living in Bodrum ... She returned to her hometown. We spoke on the phone a few times but it was both hard and expensive to talk on the phone under the conditions of that time. In the end, we stopped talking.”

Asar claimed that he and Adkins dated around July 1987 and Adele was born in May 1988.

The Turkish singer said he did not speak up to be rewarded but for Adele to know the truth.

"I'm from Bodrum and I'm a well-off man,” Asar said. “I just want my daughter to know the facts. I think I am Adele's father, I feel it. I can even have a DNA test if she wants to."

Adele has said she has Turkish, Spanish and English backgrounds.