How Ed Sheeran’s Wife Cherry Seaborn’s Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Found a Place on His New Album

The month of February in 2022 has, by Ed Sheeran’s own admission, been one of the worst months of his life. It was just prior to losing his friend and early mentor/manager Jamal Edwards due to a cocaine overdose, but Sheeran and his wife Cherry Seaborn had just received a diagnosis of a tumor that needed surgery.

Since she was six months pregnant with their second daughter Jupiter, the surgery took place after Seaborn – a fiercely private individual compared to the public figure she married –  gave birth. “There’s nothing you can do about it, you feel so powerless,” Sheeran told Rolling Stone during his cover-story interview.

While Seaborn spoke about her journey from diagnosis to treatment in the docuseries Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All in a rare interview, Sheeran was certainly putting his thoughts and feelings into the lyrics for Subtract. Seaborn says in the docuseries, “When something really intense happens to him [Sheeran], he writes a song.” Through the course of the series, we also learn that Sheeran wrote seven songs in four hours as a way of coping with what his wife was going through.

It’s right from the opening track “Boat” that we hear Sheeran loud and clear. He grapples with feeling very low and sings, “They say that all scars will heal, but I know/Maybe I won’t/But the waves won’t break my boat.” There is a story of resilience that shines through, which is part of what makes Sheeran’s music even more poignant on – (Subtract). Elsewhere, on the single “Eyes Closed,” Sheeran makes a direct reference to the tumultuous times they went through: “I pictured this month a little bit different/No one is ever ready.”

On “End of Youth,” Sheeran dives even deeper into grief and depression. “Stopped the drugs when she came, cleaned my act up overnight,” he sings, referring to the birth of his first daughter Lyra. The artist explained in his interview with Rolling Stone, ““Two months before Lyra was born, Cherry said, ‘If my waters break, do you really want someone else to drive me to the hospital?” he recalls. “Because I was just drinking a lot. And that’s when it clicked. I was like, ‘No, actually, I really don’t.’ And I don’t ever want to be pissed holding my kid.”

It’s not all downcast and somber on the album, though, as Sheeran celebrates his wife in the way that we’ve always heard on previous hits. He sings evocatively on “Colourblind” – “You take the dark away and that’s no easy feat” – making it clear that he’s dedicating the song to his wife. There’s a hopeful glow on “Sycamore,” which directly references the time Seaborn was diagnosed with a tumor. “Right now, in the waiting room, emotions runnin’ wild/Worried ’bout my lover and I’m worried ’bout our child,” he sings, later intoning that their love story is glorious no matter what happens.