Singer Ed Sheeran has revealed his struggles with drugs, alcohol and depression following his friend Jamal Edwards’ death last year.
In a wide-ranging interview with Rolling Stone, Sheeran said he tried several types of drugs – which he refused to name – in his twenties when he “used to be a party boy”.
“I was always a drinker. I didn’t touch any sort of like, drug, until I was 24,” the 32-year-old said.
“I remember just being at a festival and being like, ‘Well, if all of my friends do it, it can’t be that bad’. And then sort of dabbling.
“Then it just turns into a habit that you do once a week and then once a day and then, like, twice a day and then, like, without booze. It just became bad vibes.”
But the death of his close friend, music entrepreneur Jamal Edwards, from cardiac arrhythmia brought on by cocaine use spurred him to stop taking drugs.
“I would never, ever, ever touch anything again, because that’s how Jamal died. And that’s just disrespectful to his memory to even, like, go near,” he said.
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His wife Cherry Seaborn also encouraged Sheeran to stop drinking spirits before the birth of his first child.
“Two months before Lyra was born, Cherry said, ‘If my waters break, do you really want someone else to drive me to the hospital?'” he said.
“Because I was just drinking a lot. And that’s when it clicked. I was like, ‘No, actually, I really don’t.’ And I don’t ever want to be pissed holding my kid. Ever, ever.
“Having a couple of beers is one thing. But having a bottle of vodka is another thing.
“It’s just a realisation of, ‘I’m getting into my thirties. Grow up! You’ve partied, you’ve had this experience. Be happy with that and just be done’.”
Edwards’s death was one of several difficult incidents in Sheeran’s life last year that resulted in him developing depression.
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Ms Seaborn was six months pregnant when she was diagnosed with a tumour that needed surgery.
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She gave birth to her second child Jupiter before undergoing surgery a few months later. Sheeran was also in court defending a plagiarism lawsuit over his hit song Shape Of You.
“I felt like I didn’t want to live anymore,” he said.
“I have had that throughout my life.… You’re under the waves drowning. You’re just sort of in this thing. And you can’t get out of it.”
