Ed Sheeran reveals wife Cherry Seaborn was diagnosed with tumour while pregnant

Pop singer Ed Sheeran has revealed his wife Cherry Seaborn was diagnosed with a tumour while she was pregnant with their second child.

The couple who married in 2019, welcomed their first child, a daughter named Lyra Antartica in 2020, and a second daughter named Jupiter in May 2022. The 31-year-old singer and his childhood sweetheart, who prefer to keep their family life out of the public eye, decided to open up about their private heartbreak, as Sheeran shared they were plagued with ‘fear, depression and anxiety’ in an Instagram post.

Cherry was diagnosed with a tumour that she was unable to receive treatment for while she was pregnant, meaning the couple had an agonising wait until after she had given birth. In an Instagram post on Wednesday the ‘Shivers’ and ‘Bad Habits’ singer explained that he struggled with his mental health last year as he tried to come to terms with his wife’s health issues as well as the death of his best friend, music producer, Jamal Edwards.

Alongside an image of him hunched over a desk in an office by the sea, surrounded by books and his trusty guitar, Sheeran announced the release of his sixth studio album, Subtract and said ‘a series of events’ changed his life at the start of 2022. 

Sheeran revealed they were told there was ‘no route to treatment’ until after the baby was born, and though the baby is now approaching her first birthday, he did not add an update on his wife’s current condition.

Opening up about his life, Sheeran wrote: “I had been working on Subtract for a decade, trying to sculpt the perfect acoustic album, writing and recording hundreds of songs with a clear vision of what I thought it should be. Then at the start of 2022, a series of events changed my life, my mental health, and ultimately the way I viewed music and art.

“Writing songs is my therapy. It helps me make sense of my feelings. I wrote without thought of what the songs would be, I just wrote whatever tumbled out. And in just over a week I replaced a decade’s worth of work with my deepest darkest thoughts.

“Within the space of a month, my pregnant wife got told she had a tumour, with no route to treatment until after the birth. My best friend Jamal, a brother to me, died suddenly, and I found myself standing in court defending my integrity and career as a songwriter. I was spiralling through fear, depression and anxiety.

“I felt like I was drowning, head below the surface, looking up but not being able to break through for air.

“As an artist I didn’t feel like I could credibly put a body of work into the world that didn’t accurately represent where I am and how I need to express myself at this point in my life. This album is purely that. It’s opening the trapdoor into my soul. For the first time, I’m not trying to craft an album people will like, I’m merely putting something out that’s honest and true to where I am in my adult life.

“This is last February’s diary entry and my way of making sense of it. This is Subtract.”

Sheeran’s latest album Subtract is set for release on May 5th.