'I was drowning': Ed Sheeran opens up about wife Cherry Seaborn's tumor diagnosis and his depression
SUFFOLK, ENGLAND: Ed Sheeran has revealed that his wife Cherry Seaborn was diagnosed with a tumor when she was pregnant with their second child. He further talked about battling mental health issues because she could not have been treated until after giving birth. The pair welcomed daughter Jupiter in May 2022 and are also parents to Lyra Antarctica, two. While the pregnancy was kept secret, Sheeran revealed that the couple was plagued with "fear, depression, and anxiety" because of the diagnosis.
The 31-year-old shared traumatic details of his past years in an Instagram post where he spoke about how came to terms with his wife's health issues after learning about it as well as the death of his best friend Jamal Edwards. In the lengthy post, Sheeran also mentioned his court hearings where he had to defend his "integrity and career as a songwriter." The message concluded with the 'Perfect' hitmaker announcing the release of his sixth studio album 'Subtract', explaining it had been inspired by the tragedies he had faced in the past year.
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'I had been working on Subtract for a decade'
"I had been working on Subtract for a decade, trying to sculpt the perfect acoustic album, writing and recording hundreds of songs with a clear vision of what I thought it should be. Then at the start of 2022, a series of events changed my life, my mental health, and ultimately the way I viewed music and art. Writing songs is my therapy. It helps me make sense of my feelings. I wrote without thought of what the songs would be, I just wrote whatever tumbled out. And in just over a week I replaced a decade’s worth of work with my deepest darkest thoughts," he wrote in the caption alongside a picture of him writing the message in a notebook on a wooden desk.
'My pregnant wife told she had a tumour'
"Within the space of a month, my pregnant wife got told she had a tumor, with no route to treatment until after the birth," he added. "My best friend Jamal, a brother to me, died suddenly, and I found myself standing in court defending my integrity and career as a songwriter," he said of his close friend Jamal who died after taking cocaine and drinking alcohol which led to a cardiac arrest in February 2022. "I was spiraling through fear, depression, and anxiety. I felt like I was drowning, head below the surface, looking up but not being able to break through for air. As an artist, I didn’t feel like I could credibly put a body of work into the world that didn’t accurately represent where I am and how I need to express myself at this point in my life," said Sheeran.
He concluded: "This album is purely that. It’s opening the trapdoor into my soul. For the first time, I’m not trying to craft an album people will like, I’m merely putting something out that’s honest and true to where I am in my adult life. This is last February’s diary entry and my way of making sense of it. This is Subtract."
'Subtract' releases on May 5
Sheeran also posted a short video of him walking along the beach as the song titles can be seen written on the sand. The video then showed several clips which were likely taken from the upcoming music videos of his most recent album. 'Subtract', set to release on May 5. It is the final in his decade-long mathematical series which includes 2021's 'Equals', 2017's 'Divide', 2014's 'Multiply', and 2011's 'Plus'.