'I had to walk away': How success almost broke Ed Sheeran
Multi-platinum award-winning singer songwriter Ed Sheeran has revealed the lifestyle that came with being one of the world’s biggest pop stars pushed him to near breaking point and he came close to losing it all.
In an exclusive interview on Seven’s Sunday Night Ed said he was emotionally exhausted and physically unwell when he decided to take time out from his non-stop schedule.
“I was like, at the unhealthiest I have ever been. Hair falling out, just chunky, boozing… like, it wasn’t great,” he said in an interview with Sunday Night guest reporter Angela Cox.
After six years in the public eye, Ed made the decision to walk away from the music scene and social media for twelve months.
“I just needed to find some balance again and you need to appreciate what you do,” he said.
“I would be getting up on stage and being like, ‘oh I need to get off it’, and now I don’t want to stop touring. Now I really appreciate it, I have found a way to balance it and make it do-able, but that is definitely why I took a year off.”
During his time off, Ed travelled around the world to Iceland, Ghana, Italy, Fiji, Japan, New Zealand and even Tasmania.
But fans could be forgiven for not noticing he was away. During his absence his hit songs remained on the charts and in high demand on streaming services.
His new album ÷(Divide) is sitting at number one in 95 countries.
Ed is particularly pleased that the song ‘Thinking Out Loud” has become a favourite of newlyweds for their first dance.
“It’s nice because it kind of immortalises the song in terms of like… even if I fall out of grace and no one listens to me anymore, there’s couples everywhere that share that song, and that song will always exist in their life, even it is doesn’t exist in the public life.
“I just think it makes your music last forever, memories like that.”
Ed has just announced his world tour, with a string of Australian shows planned for March next year.
“I’m really excited to get back to Australia, it’s a beaut.
“Playing the venues that we’re doing means that you actually get time off in Australia, it’s not like gig, gig, gig, gig, like here in England. I think it’s like two or three days off between each one so you actually get to hang out and see the country.”
Click here for tickets and tour dates.
