DUDES GETTING REAL

Ed Sheeran is the latest in a line-up of male stars to face the truth: it takes hard work to look and feel good

- NOKUTHULA ZWANE-EJIKE

HE SEEMS to have it all – crazy money, adoring fans, a fabulous house, a lovely wife, two cute kids, doors opening for him wherever he goes. But Ed Sheeran is still baff led by the stratospheric success his singing career has brought him.

“Ginger hair, really short, stutters – that guy doesn’t become a pop star,” the 32-year-old says in The Sum of It All, an upcoming four-part Disney+ documentary that delves into his rise to fame and his struggles with mental health and self-esteem.

“I was in the One Direction wave,” he adds, referencing the boy band that shot to fame around the time he arrived on the scene.

“And I’m like, ‘Well, why don’t I have a six-pack?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, because you love kebabs and drink beer’. All these people have fantastic figures. And I was always like, ‘Well why am I so . . . fat?’”

But Ed has been steering his life in a healthier direction since the death of his best friend, Jamal Edwards, who had a cocaine- and alcohol-induced heart attack in February last year.

His wife Cherry Seaborn’s health struggles have also made Ed re-evaluate his lifestyle. She was diagnosed with a tumour when pregnant with daughter Jupiter (11 months) and couldn’t have treatment until after the baby was born.

She’s doing well now and the couple, who also have two-year-old daughter Lyra, are counting their blessings.

Ed admits he’s not the kind of guy who does things in moderation.

“I’m a real binge eater. I’m a binge everything. But now I’m more of a binge exerciser and a binge dad. And work, obviously.”