My Sheer despair

Pop icon Ed opens up on depression. Drugs vow after pal Jamal's death. Fears over pregnant wife's tumour

- ASHLEIGH RAINBIRD Diary Editor

ED Sheeran has told how he had suicidal thoughts as he plunged into his darkest moments last year after the death of a close friend.

The 32-year-old singer was mourning the loss of music entrepreneur Jamal Edwards who suffered heart problems after taking cocaine.

Ed vowed never to touch drugs again out of respect for his tragic best pal.

It came around the same time wife Cherry was diagnosed with a tumour.

Consumed by despair, he sank into a deep depression. In his most emotional interview ever, the star says: "I felt like I didn't want to live anymore.

Speaking of Jamal's death at the age of 31 in February last year, Ed tells Rolling Stone magazine: "You're under the waves drowning. You're just sort of in this thing.