When Ed Sheeran decided to leave his much-loved Suffolk home and base himself in the United States during his US tour, one priority shaped the move: making sure he could still read bedtime stories to his two young daughters.
Friends say the singer found the prospect of spending weeks thousands of miles from six-year-old Lyra and four-year-old Jupiter impossible to bear.
He therefore moved to Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife, Cherry Seaborn, allowing him to perform across the country before returning to his family by private jet after the shows.
His weekend concerts were arranged with a week between dates, giving him time to fulfil his responsibilities as a father while travelling between cities including Boston, Los Angeles and Atlanta. After years of dealing with the strain of constant touring, the arrangement appeared to offer an ideal balance.
When he made the decision, however, Sheeran could not have known how important that family support would become. It was especially clear on Saturday night, when he returned to the rented Nashville mansion hours after breaking down on stage in Philadelphia and speaking publicly about five days of intense personal turmoil.
During an emotional address, Sheeran told the audience he felt abandoned by friends and relatives after failing to publicly support his opening act, Macklemore, who had used his performances to deliver pro-Palestinian messages.
“I’m feeling all of my friends and family and people I know abandoned me,” he said.
Sheeran also said he had made “mistakes” in dealing with the fallout and admitted he did not know whether the tour would continue.
Ed Sheeran became emotional during his Philadelphia concert as he described feeling abandoned by friends and family after the controversy involving support act Macklemore
Ed Sheeran and his wife, Cherry Seaborn, pictured together at the 2022 BRIT Awards
“At the time, the idea [of moving the family] was simply that he would be able to see his kids and Cherry most days,” a source close to the singer said. “Ed had no idea this would happen, but what a relief they are in the States because right now Cherry and the girls are the only things that put a smile on his face. It is his sanctuary and has been far more valuable than either of them could have imagined.”
The source added: “The Philadelphia gig was the hardest of his life and this is the biggest challenge he’s ever faced. But one thing kept him going—the thought that his lovely little family would be waiting for him in Nashville and that he would return to the arms of those who love him.”
Friends of the 35-year-old singer have reportedly been increasingly worried about his wellbeing since last week, when billionaire businessman Robert Kraft barred Macklemore from performing at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Kraft, a personal friend of Sheeran’s, hosted the singer at his 2022 wedding.
Kraft, 85, who is Jewish, accused the US rapper of hate speech following two earlier support appearances in which Macklemore called for “Free Palestine” and made further remarks about the conflict, alongside images relating to Gaza.
Macklemore performed a song dedicated to pro-Palestinian demonstrators and described events in Gaza as “genocide”, a characterization rejected by Israel. He also said his criticism of Israel was not directed at “my Jewish brothers and sisters”.
Macklemore was dropped from the tour last Monday, prompting further backlash. Several of Sheeran’s other support acts subsequently withdrew in protest, while a number of public figures have since joined the debate.
Nadiya Hussain, the television chef and former Great British Bake Off winner, shared a video with her one million Instagram followers accusing Sheeran of displaying “white tears” and presenting himself as “the victim” in the dispute. In the video, British therapist Megan Cooper said: “If the tears of Palestinians and black, brown and indigenous communities carried as much gravity, genocide would not happen.”
Welsh singer Charlotte Church also criticised Sheeran, telling an audience at a Cardiff performance on Sunday that he had placed financial interests ahead of what she considered the morally right course.
“Whilst he has made millions and has an enormous following, he has an enormous platform to do real good in the world. He chose consumerism and capitalism over doing the right thing,” Church said.
She continued: “So we say the same thing to Ed Sheeran because f*** the fact [that he says] musicians shouldn’t be involved in politics. F*** that s***. Politics is life.” Church then told Sheeran, “we’re watching you,” repeating the phrase several times with her band before leading the crowd in chants of “Free Palestine”.
Friends of Sheeran were quick to hit back at both women, saying of Nadia: ‘Hasn’t she got anything better to do?’ and adding of Charlotte: ‘She’s just cross.’
But, make no mistake, the saga has left Sheeran ‘in bits’. One friend tells me: ‘It is something he will never get over. ‘Ed is a people-pleaser, he tries to keep politics out of his singing but this has hit him like a train.’
Although, I’m told, his parents Imogen and John have been ‘propping him up’ as has his brother Matt, a classically trained composer, Sheeran is said to be ‘absolutely furious’ that his estranged cousin Jethro has joined the online pile-on.
Writing under his artist handle Alonestar, the rapper from Bristol dubbed Sheeran a ‘bad human’ and said: ‘I’m ashamed of my cousin Ed. He’s a coward.’
It was Jethro, I understand, whom the singer was referring to when he cited being abandoned by his family in his onstage meltdown. ‘Jethro has been a very difficult issue in the family for quite some time and a bit of a thorn in Ed’s side,’ a source tells me.
‘He seems to throw stones at Ed whenever he gets the chance and has made all sorts of wild allegations over the years. The truth is he’s just jealous and disgruntled.’
The repercussions appear far from over yet.
TV chef and former Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain shared a video with her one million Instagram followers accusing Sheeran of making himself ‘the victim’ in the row
Welsh singer Charlotte Church performs a concert on Sunday, where she told fans that Sheeran was putting money ahead of doing the ‘right thing’
Sheeran’s manager Stuart Camp has jetted out to the US to deal with the fallout, while there have been transatlantic Zoom calls between members of his team.
When talking to friends and those around Sheeran, it’s clear his torment is deeply felt.
‘Ed has cried, he’s been angry, he’s been hurt, but more than anything he’s just hugely upset. He can’t believe he has found himself in this position and it feels as though he can’t do right whichever way he turns.
‘He’s been talking a lot to his team, his manager Stuart who he’s very close to and others who are there around him and trying to work out what to do. But it feels as though there just isn’t any solution to keep everyone happy.
‘He’s completely exhausted emotionally. Everyone involved is utterly drained. And every time he tries to make the situation better another celebrity comes out of the woodwork and criticises him. He feels a bit exploited and used by others who seem to be enjoying the publicity at his expense. Some of the comments have come as a real shock. He’s had it from both sides at once.’
So distraught is the star that I’m told he’s considering taking a long break from his music career. Friends tell me that all he wants to do is ‘stick on a baseball cap and pretend he’s not famous’ for as long as he possibly can.
He has previously taken himself off to far flung places – such as Japan and Antarctica (where he and Cherry conceived their first daughter, Lyra Antarctica) as well as backpacking across Australia and New Zealand. Friends say this crisis has deepened his resolve to do something similar again.
‘He has made a pattern of taking himself away for long periods during his career, especially since starting a family.
‘When he travels he often doesn’t have any contact with the rest of the world – he leaves it all behind him and goes away to places that are often quite remote and a million miles away from his daily stresses and the pressure of being famous.
‘He loves nothing more than to put on a baseball cap and go back to being normal Ed, with no showbiz entourage or anything. He likes to go totally off-grid – and he’s never needed it more.’
In the past week, several members of the music industry have got in touch with me to share their views on the crisis.
Some who have spent time with Sheeran and adore him are deeply upset for him. One told me: ‘It’s heartbreaking to hear him like this when none of it is his fault.’
Others, however, have been quick to describe it as a ‘PR disaster’. One senior music executive took the view that Sheeran should have cancelled the 26-date tour.
‘He was absolutely stupid if he thought he was going to get away unscathed with this. If I was advising him, I would have told him to cancel it.’
However sources close to Sheeran have been quick to explain that this was simply not feasible. I’m told that with around 150 people employed by the tour as crew, cancelling the remaining North American gigs would have cost Sheeran in the region of £30million because he would not have been covered by insurance.
A source says: ‘People don’t seem to understand what the reality of cancelling those gigs would have actually looked like and cost Ed personally. There was no definitive need to cancel the shows, so no insurance company is going to pick up the bill, and the bill for hosting them is huge.
‘On top of that there were about 750,000 tickets which would need to be reimbursed and all sorts of other upfront staging and transport costs. In the end a rough estimate would have meant Ed personally becoming liable for around £30million. Even someone as successful as him isn’t in a position to pull that sort of money out of nowhere.
‘The artists speaking out have no clue how many people are relying on Ed for their livelihoods and he really respects that – he understands this isn’t just about him.’
Pro-Palestinian protesters wave flags and hold signs during a protest before a Sheeran concert in Philadelphia last week
Finneas, brother of singer-songwriter Billie Eilish, was one of the support acts who dropped out of Sheeran’s tour in solidarity with Macklemore
While Sheeran currently feels as if he is, as one friend says, ‘public enemy number one’, he has been touched by support from some of his long-term allies, including Elton John, to whom he speaks via video call on his iPad (Ed doesn’t own a phone) most days.
‘Ed has amazing friends in the business who totally get it. Nobody is closer to him than Elton John. They speak every single day via iPad, often video calls, just to chat and keep in touch. He’s a very valuable mentor.’
As for his long-standing friend Taylor Swift, her PR didn’t respond to repeated requests when I asked whether she had been in contact with her fellow singer.
A-list support aside, those in Sheeran’s camp know they are in for an arduous journey before they reach the end of the tour on December 11 in Mexico City.
This Friday, he will play at Robert Kraft’s Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where there are likely to be huge protests.
Those close to the star fear the performance – at the arena which first banned Sheeran’s controversial support act – will only reignite the row. One said: ‘Ed is terrified of what will be that night.
‘But what will undoubtedly get him through will be the thought of Cherry and his little girls waiting for him when he gets home.’
