Ed Sheeran opens up about eating disorder that saw him gorging on food until he vomited

Ed Sheeran has spoken out about his struggle with an eating disorder after comparing himself to other pop stars

The Shivers singer, 32, from Halifax, admitted that he developed an eating disorder after collaborating with Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes who he described as having “fantastic figures”.

Ed revealed that it made him feel “mad uncomfortable” to be working alongside the toned-up musicians, which led to him gorging on food until he would vomit it back up.

The award winning musician said that at the time he was “a binge-everything” person, while admitting to having an eating problem.

He also revealed that he is now more focused on becoming a “binge exerciser” and a “binge dad”.

The Shape of You singer compared his eating disorder battle to Elton John’s, who shared that he developed bulimia in his autobiography.

During his Rolling Stone interview Ed said: “I’m self-conscious anyway, but you get into an industry where you’re getting compared to every other pop star. I was in the One Direction wave, and I’m like, ‘Well, why don’t I have a six pack?’”.

Ed then went on to discuss his eating habits, saying: “And I was like, ‘Oh because you love kebabs and drink beer.’ Then you do songs with Justin Beiber and Shawn Mendes. All these people have fantastic figures. And I was always like, ‘Well, why am I so…fat?’.”

The singer had previously opened up about his “very addictive personality” and confessed to bingeing on junk food.

Ed, who is married to wife Cherry Seaborn, 30 and is father to Lyra, two, and Jupiter, 10 months, has decided to focus on his family as part of his eating disorder recovery.

The singer also vowed to never do drugs again following the death of his close friends Jamal Edwards and Shane Warne.

Jamal, 31, who helped launch Ed’s career, died in February 2022 from a cardiac arrest following a late night booze and cocaine session.

He had confessed to first taking drugs in his mid-20s, before gradually becoming hooked on them.

The singer used to take drugs twice a day and said that it would be disrespectful to take drugs again following Jamal’s death.

During a dinner with singer Taylor Swift and her boyfriend Joe Alwyn, Ed was texting Jamal about shooting a music video the next day.

Ed said: Twelve hours later, he was dead.”

Just before Jamal’s death, Ed’s wife Cherry was diagnosed with a tumour that required surgery, whilst she was six months pregnant.

Unfortunately the surgery could not happen until she had given birth and there were talks of delivering baby Jupiter early.

However Ed shared that his wife carried their baby to full term and received a successful surgery in June, the morning of one of his Wembley concerts.

Ed said: “There’s nothing you can do about it, you feel so powerless.”