Ed Sheeran Opens Up About Secret Battle With Substance Abuse That Caused Him To Take Year Off

Ed Sheeran revealed that he has been battling substance abuse and it got to the point that the singer took off from touring for a year so that he could take control of his addiction. On the upcoming episode of The Jonathan Ross Show that will air on Saturday, Sheeran opened up about how the fame and his life on the road were leading to a dark place and even caused him to stop touring during 2016.

“I think you need to, when you get into the industry, adjust to it — and I didn’t adjust because I was constantly working on tour,” Sheeran said. “And all the pitfalls that people read about, I just found myself slipping into all of them. Mostly, like, substance abuse. I never touched anything. I started slipping into it, and that’s why I took a year off and buggered off.”

“I focused on work, and I can’t work under the influence, I can’t write songs under the influence, I can’t perform under the influence — so the more I worked the less [that happened],” the 26-year-old singer said. “I’ve worked my whole life to get to where I am and you can’t lose that over something that you do in your spare time. I didn’t really notice it was happening. It just started gradually happening, and then some people took me to one side and were like, ‘Calm yourself down’ […] It’s all fun to begin with, it all starts off as a party and then you’re doing it on your own and it’s not, so that was a wake-up call and taking a year off.”

Sheeran added that his 24-year-old girlfriend, Cherry Seaborn, was instrumental in his recovery and helped “ground” him. “I was a 25-year-old in the music industry on tour, so I just needed someone to balance me out,” Sheeran added.

The Grammy-winning artist didn’t reveal what substances he was battling. In the past, Sheeran said that he drinks beer “almost every single day.” He also said, “I’ve cut [out] excessive beer. I’ll still have a pint. But what I would do is I’d have like five or six pints a night. So what I’ll do, I’ll have a pint, then I’ll move to a less…Well, a beer is like having a loaf of bread, isn’t it? So a less-loaf-of-bread-y kind of drink. The best part of the day is the first beer. Second beer never tastes as good. So I’ll switch to wine or gin or something after that.” Sheeran lost 50 pounds recently, thanks to cutting out the beer.

Sheeran took more time off from touring after breaking bones in both of his arms due to a recent bike accident. He was forced him to postpone and cancel some tour dates in Asia. Continued recovery to Mr. Sheehan.

[People]