Ed Sheeran Discusses Injury, Substance Abuse

After canceling the rest of his Asian tour dates because of a bicycle accident, Ed Sheeran opened up about his injuries on The Jonathan Ross Show.

John Davisson – Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran strums a tune at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla., Aug. 29.

According to People, the singer discussed his injuries on a new episode of the U.K. show airing Oct. 21, in addition to revealing details about his past struggles with substance abuse.

“I broke my wrist, my elbow and rib. I came off a bike quite fast, a bicycle, a pedal bike. I was in Suffolk [going down a steep hill]. The thing is, when it happened, I got up and was like, ‘That hurt’ and then cycled to the pub. Went home, went to sleep and then woke up at five o’clock in the morning in a lot of pain,” Sheeran told the host. “And then I went to the hospital.”

Sheeran was reportedly persuaded to cancel his dates after he learned his injuries could prevent him playing guitar if he did not allow them to heal.

“I did try to be like, ‘I will.’ I tried to say I’ll carry on doing the shows, but they said if I put any more stress on it, I might not be able to play guitar again, so it’s good to be sensible,” Sheeran said.

Photos of the ginger-haired singer on his Instagram show him with one hand in a cast and the other in a sling.

He is reportedly taking four weeks off to recover.

Sheeran was touring in support of his latest record, Divide, which dropped in March. He consistently sells out shows, according to Pollstar’s box office, which has Sheeran grossing above $1 million on average.

The singer said he was on hiatus the year prior to the record’s release to recover from his struggle with substance abuse.

“I think you need to, when you get into the industry, adjust to it – and I didn’t adjust because I was constantly working on tour. And all the pitfalls that people read about, I just found myself slipping into all of them. Mostly, like, substance abuse,” he said. “I never touched anything, I started slipping into it, and that’s why I took a year of and buggered off.”

Sheeran added that his girlfriend and his love for music helped him get back on track.

“We live together now, and I think that was a real help grounding me,” he said. “I was a 25 year old in the music industry on tour, so I just need needed someone to balance me out.”

For now, Sheeran plans on enjoying his time as a 25-year-old pop star.

“Often, I’m like, ‘Is it bad that I drink almost every single day?’ And then I look at my friends and most of them do the same. And they’re actually worse than me,” he said. “The first things Americans say is ‘There’s a problem and you need to go to rehab.’ But I don’t wake up and drink. I don’t depend on drink. I just enjoy going out and having fun, being 25 – and I think that’s a normal thing.”

Pollstar reached out to Sheeran’s representatives for comment.