Singer Ed Sheeran has opened up about his mental health issues and battles with addiction, and he revealed that the “lowest” part of his life was during one of the highest points of his career back in 2015.
“It was down to bad diet, drinking and then not seeing sunlight at all… And I wasn’t exercising. Exercise, I think, is a really f**king important thing to keep people happy,” he said during a recent interview. “I was touring and I would stay up and drink all night and then… The buses would park underneath the arenas and I’d sleep on the bus all day and then wake up and then come out do the show, drink, get back on the bus. I didn’t see sunlight for, like, maybe like four months.”
“It’s all fun and games at the start, it’s all rock ‘n’ roll and it’s fun, and then it starts getting just sad,” the “Thinking Out Loud” crooner continued. “So I think that’s probably the lowest that I’ve been and I kind of ballooned in weight and I just wasn’t healthy.”
The singer explained that he found himself asking, “What was the point? Why am I around? What is the point?” He also admitted that he suffered from panic attacks any time he was in a public or crowded area.
“It’s a weird paranoia in me that’s assuming that everyone’s gonna be horrible, when usually people are nice,” he continued.
The 29-year-old admitted that having “a very addictive personality” made things harder for him.
“I’m reading Elton John’s book at the moment and there are so many things that he did that I do. He would be like, ‘I would just go on an ice cream binge and eat four f**king desserts until I thew up,’ and I was like, ‘I’ve done that before.’ Or his martini binges, where he sees how many he can drink. And I’m like, ‘I’ve done that before too.’ He ends up getting really f**king sad and depressed and all of these things can can add to that,” Ed said. “I think with addiction it’s very hard to moderate, but moderation is the key, I think. I think things like sugar, sweet stuff, junk food, cocaine, alcohol, is all things that, it feels good the more you do, but it’s the worst thing for you, I think”
He added, “I’m covered in tattoos and I kind of don’t do things by halves. So if I’m gonna drink, I kinda see no point in having a glass of wine, I’d rather have two bottles of wine. I think having a glass of wine is having something in moderation and probably isn’t going to affect your day the next day. But two bottles of wine probably might make you quite sad the next.”
“I was on my phone probably 19 hours of the day in 2015 and before that. Just constantly flicking, posting, flicking, posting, flicking, posting. And it wasn’t till the tour ended in 2015 where I was like, ‘I’m going to try to live without my phone for a bit,'” he concluded. “It just felt like a massive weight had been lifted… Being off it has been really good.”
If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Youth Crisis Hotline at 1-800-448-4663.
Love J-14? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for fun, exclusive videos with your favorite stars.
