Ed Sheeran has admitted that he struggles to “trust” people, as he opened up about his battle with crippling anxiety.
The 28-year-old has revealed that he’s made big changes in his life to deal with his mental health issues – and cut off a lot of friends in the process.
During a new interview with Charlamagne tha God, the singer said he gets anxiety “every day”, and he’s been “working on it for the past eight years.”
“Whether it be getting rid of a phone and only answering emails twice a day, or whether it’s cutting down my friendship group to the bare, bare minimum just so I trust everyone.”
“Or whether it’s living in the countryside in the middle of nowhere, and kind of closed off a bit from reality. All of these little things are in place to protect my mind.”
Ed also revealed how he struggles with fame, and how it makes him feel like a “zoo animal”.
He explained: “I have social anxiety. I don’t like large groups of people, which is ironic given I play shows to thousands of people.”
“I feel claustrophobic and I don’t like being around many people. I have no problem with talking to people. But it’s when people film me and stare at me. It makes me feel weird.”
“It makes me feel like I’m not human. If you want to come up to me and have a conversation with me. Even if we’ve never met, just come up. But what instantly cuts me off is that you’re having a moment with them which is so genuine and so nice and then at the end they ask for a picture,” he continued.
“It puts you down to earth and you’re just 15 likes on Instagram. That’s all you are. I was at a Marilyn Manson show and a man shook my hand and said he liked my music, and that was it. That was so nice.”
“Like if I am eating in a restaurant now, I would prefer to have a private room because if I eat in the public room I have people filming me while I’m eating my food. You feel like a zoo animal. I don’t mean to complain, I have a cool job and life. But I just want to avoid that.”
