I once wrote seven songs in four hours – the reason is heartbreaking, says Ed Sheeran
ED Sheeran wrote seven songs in four hours the day after his wife Cherry was diagnosed with cancer, a new documentary reveals.
The music superstar is seen sobbing in the Disney+ special as he recalls fearing his pregnant wife might die.
And 30-year-old Cherry Seaborn speaks in depth for the first time about her cancer ordeal.
She said: “Long story short, I got diagnosed with cancer at the start of the year, which was a massive s**tter, but it made me massively reflect on our mortality.”
On battling cancer, she added: “I was saying to Eds, I’d never have agreed to do anything like this before — never, ever, ever — but it made me think this whole year, if I died, what’s people’s perception of me?
“What am I going to leave behind? It genuinely wasn’t until this year when I was just like, ‘I might die’.
“We had the diagnosis of the tumour and the next day Eds went down into the basement and wrote seven songs in four hours.
“Some people write a diary and get their emotions out through the pen and, for Eds, if something really intense happens, he’ll go and write a song.”
Ed, 32, explained: “Music’s always been like therapy to me.
“It was a way to get my thoughts and feelings down as a kid, and it works. It really works.”
The four-part documentary was originally meant to be about Ed’s music career, but ended up focussing on the fallout from the events of February 2022.
It was the month that Cherry’s cancer diagnosis was quickly followed by the death of Ed’s close friend Jamal Edwards from a heart attack, aged 31.
Ed was also fighting a court case — which he won — over his hit Shape of You, which he was accused of plagiarising.
The star said: “That was a horrible, horrible, horrible month.
“Life hasn’t moved on for me yet and I don’t think it will.”
Cherry was diagnosed with a tumour six months into her pregnancy with their second child, Jupiter, who turns one this month.
The tumour needed surgery, but the couple were told that could not happen until after Cherry had given birth.
She reveals it was fearing she may die that encouraged her to be part of Ed’s documentary, because she wanted to show he is not just a “music machine”.
Ed’s music entrepreneur pal Jamal died the day after Cherry was told her tumour was not as severe as doctors had first feared, and that she would not need to have her baby early to allow doctors to operate.
And the documentary reveals for the first time how pal Stormzy rushed to be by Ed’s side the day after the shock death of their mutual friend.
Ed says: “He drove over to my house and came and comforted me.
“I don’t have a lot of really close industry friends, but he’s one of my closest.
“He comes to me for advice, I go to him for advice and he’s invaluable in terms of sanity.”
In the documentary, Cherry is seen worrying over Ed’s mental health and fearing he is working too hard to process his heartache.
She says: “He’s worked every day this year, either writing, performing or doing promo.
“We’ve barely had a conversation this year about his mental health. I can see it and there’s massive alarm bells for me.”
But Ed says writing his new album Subtract, which features his most personal songs yet and is released on Wednesday, helped him deal with loss.
He says: “The moment you find the worst thing has happened to someone you truly love, you feel like you’re drowning and can’t get out from under it.
“Just from that situation, all these songs came out.
“It’s scary putting your deepest, darkest thoughts out into the world, but I think I’m super ready to just put Subtract out and move on from it emotionally.”
Ed is currently fighting another copyright infringement case in New York, this time over his 2014 hit Thinking Out Loud.
He is accused of copying from Marvin Gaye’s legendary R&B song Let’s Get It On.
But describing his previous court case, where he was accused of ripping off 2015 song Oh Why by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue with his hit Shape of You, he says the legal struggle “paled in comparison” to the other battles in his life at the time.
He told the documentary: “I’m sat in this courtroom with people shouting from all different angles, and calling me all different things, and in my head all I can think is, ‘I just hope Cherry’s alright’.
“I could lose this court case and life goes on, but life doesn’t really go on if the person you love most in the world isn’t in it.”
- Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All is on Disney+ from May 3.