While Ed Sheeran has been in the public eye for more than a decade, his personal life has remained relatively private. For the first time ever, the 32-year-old superstar has opened the doors to his world and his mind in his new Disney+ docuseries, Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All.
The four-part series delves into topics of love, loss, focus and balance as viewers enjoy the highs and lows that have defined his global success, including his childhood, his unwavering work ethic, his marriage to Cherry Seaborn and her devastating cancer diagnosis, plus his friendship with the late music entrepreneur Jamal Edwards.
The Sum of It All arrives on Disney+ on May 3, just two days before Sheeran is set to reveal his highly anticipated new album, – (pronounced Subtract), on May 5 via Atlantic Records.
To celebrate the docuseries’ release, see below for its most captivating moments. Sign up for Disney+ here.
-
Every Aspect of His Career Was Planned
Quickly in the documentary, fans can see just how meticulous Sheeran is about his career. “I always knew that you just have to work harder than everyone else because there’s always going to be someone that wants it more than you,” he tells the camera, as flashback footage of a young Sheeran performing at small venues plays on the screen. “I looked at all my peers, and was like, ‘Well, you’re playing one show a week. I’m gonna do three shows a night.”
He even planned out his mathematical-themed albums. “When I first started out, I really wanted to make five albums,” he explains. “Plus (+) would be the addition onto all the EPs I had done up until that point. Multiply (x) would make it bigger. Divide (÷) would be a double album of acoustic and R&B and then equals would be the sum of all the parts. And then the fifth record is [Subtract].”
-
Jamal Edwards Is Honored Throughout the Series
Sheeran struggles with the loss of his best friend, Jamal Edwards, throughout The Sum of It All. The beloved entrepreneur died in February 2022 of cardiac arrest at age 31, and one of the most vulnerable parts of the documentary is when Sheeran attends his six-month memorial.
After feeling overwhelmed, the star takes a moment to breathe in the car, and breaks down in tears. “I know everyone should be having fun. That’s the whole point. I just feel so lost in there,” he says between sobs. “It’s still like very, very raw. I’ve never been to a burial […] Suddenly you’re putting dirt on your mate’s grave and it’s very, very real.”
Throughout the series, Sheeran honors his “best mate” through videos of the duo laughing together, and various tributes to Edwards, including the writing process of his recent single “Eyes Closed” and a performance of “Take Me Back to London” with Stormzy at London’s Wembley Stadium dedicated to his late friend.
-
Ed & Cherry’s First Date
One of the more lighthearted moment in The Sum of It All, was seeing how much Sheeran loves his wife. At one point in the series, the duo are seen in a Tuk Tuk vehicle, enjoying a beer and reminiscing on their chaotic first date boating in NYC’s Central Park.
““It was the busiest, busiest, hottest day of the year in New York,” Cherry recalls, before Ed takes over. “I was rowing and we got out to the middle of the lake and this boats just started surrounding us. All of these tourists, filming and taking pictures,” the singer says as the duo burst into laughter. “Chez goes, ‘Do you want me to row?’ And I was like, ‘Cherry, the last thing I need is a picture of you rowing me!’”
-
Cherry’s Cancer Diagnosis
Just before Edwards passed away, Sheeran was dealing with another tragic event. Six-month pregnant Cherry found a tumor in her arm, which turned out to be cancer. “The doctor was basically like, ‘This is really bad.’ And we were like, ‘Oh, OK,’” Sheeran recalled. “He was like, ‘But we’re not going to have results back for a month.’ So we just sort of wandered around London for the day.”
Cherry added that, thankfully, the “tumor came back a lot less severe than they originally thought,” and she was able to give birth to the couple’s daughter before receiving treatment.
Sheeran shared that after the cancer diagnosis, he wrote seven songs in four hours. He performed an acoustic version of one of the tracks, singing, “This week was heavy / I buckled under all the weight / What can you do but pray? / I count my blessings, it wasn’t any other way / Don’t leave it up to fate / Same problems, different options / Pain comes at a cost but we got this / Need respite, bleed time dry / She’ll be fine, she’ll be fine.”
-
Eminem Helped Sheeran’s Childhood Stutter
Before Sheeran took the stage with Eminem to perform “Stan” with him to celebrate the rapper’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the “Perfect” singer and his father reminisced on how being an Em fan helped Ed recover from his stutter as a child.
“Learning all the Eminem raps because they were all really fast, choppy. I’d learn the entire thing back to back and that pretty much sorted it,” Sheeran said of owning Em’s 1999 album, The Slim Shady LP.
He continued, “Being a pop star for a very long time, people will be like, ‘Oh, it’s normal for him to go up and sing with Eminem.’ But this is literally the dream of mine as a kid to do this, and it’s not normal.”
Related Images:
