Ed Sheeran has admitted he was “intensely unhappy” in the first decade of his career.
The Perfect singer shot to fame with his 2011 debut album, +, and has gone on to produce 15 UK number one singles and eight UK number one albums, establishing him as one of the world's best-selling music artists.
However, the 34-year-old admitted his dizzying success came at a price, explaining that the constant 16-hour days tested his “sanity” as he prioritised work over friends and family.
“I think in the first decade of my career I was intensely unhappy as I had no balance, I was just work, work, work,” he told The Sun.
“And yes, everything was hyper- successful, but it was hyper-successful because I had no personal life at all.
Sheeran, who was promoting his ninth album, Play - added: “To be that successful in my 20s you have to give everything of yourself all day, every day, and there’s a time limit to that, sanity-wise.”
The Thinking Out Loud hitmaker shared that he is now more focused on his family and being a husband and father.
Sheeran married his long-term partner Cherry Seaborn in 2019 and the pair share two children, Lyra, five, and Jupiter, three.
Earlier this month, he revealed he is relocating with his family to the US for the foreseeable future.
The UK-born singer explained that while he has long been used to travelling for work, this time he plans to properly “settle” in the US with his wife and kids during his next touring run.
“I’m just about to move to America,” he said on The 2 Johnnies Podcast.
“I feel like I might be the only person moving to America… I’m going on tour there for a while, so I have a family, so I can’t dip in and out, we’re going and settling there.”
It comes after the Lego House hitmaker - who identifies “culturally as Irish” - said he wants to move to Nashville and transition to country music.
“When you transition to country, you can’t transition back,” he told the Call Her Daddy podcast in April.
“Nashville is my favourite city in the states and it’s always been my end goal to move to Nashville and transition to country.”
