Ed Sheeran shares new purpose in life in exclusive Ellen interview

Ed Sheeran has had a busy year. The English singer has spent all year on top charts with singles like “Bad Habits” and “Shivers,” while his fifth studio album, =, has been streamed over one billion times since it was released in October. And just a week after another new release, a Christmas song with Elton John, the artist is back on the media trail.

And in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres yesterday, Sheeran shared how he’s more eager than ever to be out of the studio, off tour, and back at home.

Sheeran married Cherry Seaborn in 2019 and in Sept. 2020, the couple had their first child, Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran. “She’s cool,” Sheeran declared, “She’s 15 months now. Walking, talking, constantly with a bit of bread in the hand.”

When asked about how feels about parenting, Sheeran gave a heartfelt reflection on his career and what he wants to do with this life. “I really really love being a dad,” he began.

I started off my job being my hobby and then I did it every day and the one day and then it became my job. And then I did my hobby every day but it was also my job, and when I had time off I’d still do it. I’d stop touring and then I’d go into the studio because I love the studio and then I’d stop at the studio and go back on tour because I love to tour. And I just found I didn’t really have any purpose outside of that because when I was giving myself fixed time off of no work I wasn’t doing anything I enjoyed.

But being a parent has changed all of that. “This has actually given me purpose and something in life that’s actually more important than my job,” Sheeran noted.

It’s made work harder though, he admitted. “I actually find this really, really difficult, being away. And I’m only away for like four days.”

That wasn’t the singer’s only moment of retrospection in the interview. Sheeran first appeared on The Ellen Show in 2012 after the single “A-Team” brought the singer international attention. He was just 21 at the time and recalled how it felt like a big deal.

There’s not many things that travel to England that are massive in America, but this show is one of them — it just always has been. Even pre-YouTube it was in the news and stuff so I knew it was a really big deal doing it.

Ellen also remembered how big the occasion was. “We had so many people requesting to be here,” she shared, “We had people in the audience and then we put a whole crowd around you when you were singing too.”

“I feel like I look older than I do now,” Sheeran said while looking at an image of the performance.

“You do look younger now,” Ellen agreed.

“Yeah … I shaved,” Sheeran clarified.