Who is Ed Sheeran’s wife? All about Cherry Seaborn

Ed Sheeran and his music have fans all over the world, but no one is bigger than his wife, Cherry Seaborn.

The pair have known each other since childhood, first meeting when they were just 11 years old, but didn’t start dating until several years later, when they met again as adults in New York City in 2015.

In December 2018, Sheeran and Seaborn secretly married in an intimate ceremony with just 40 guests. Almost two years later, the couple welcomed their first child, daughter Lyra Antarctica, and in May 2022, their second child, daughter Jupiter, was born.

While pregnant with Jupiter, Seaborn was diagnosed with cancer. She spoke publicly about her health for the first time in Sheeran’s Disney+ documentary series, Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All, which premiered in May 2023. The “Shivars” singer also opened up about his wife and how much she means to him.

“Everything in my life has gotten so much better since Cherry got into it,” Sheeran can be heard saying in the series’ trailer.

Sheeran appeared in another special in 2025, this time airing on Netflix. One Shot with Ed Sheeran: A Music Experience began streaming on November 21st.

Despite their high-profile relationship, Seaborn has no public social media accounts and is a private person who tends to stay away from the spotlight. Here’s everything you need to know about her relationship with Sheeran.

she grew up with sheeran

Sheeran and Seaborn have known each other for a very long time. They first met at Thomas Mills High School in Suffolk, England, and remained friends for some time.

However, their relationship in high school was anything but romantic. In an interview with Dax Shepard on Armchair Expert, Sheeran said that if they had dated at the time, “it would have been a disaster.”

The friends lost touch when Sheeran went on tour and Seaborn headed to Duke University in North Carolina. However, in 2015, a mutual friend invited them to meet again in New York.

“One day she was in New York and Cherry was working on Wall Street, so we hung out,” Sheeran shared on his friend and tour buddy Lauren’s podcast. “Then she said, ‘Cherry Seaborn is in town, would you like to come out?’” I was like, “Yes.” ”

He went on to say that he was nervous about reuniting with Seaborn since they were “dating” the last time they were together. “So in my head, I was like, what if she remembers that? It was a while ago. It was very innocent. It was a very tender kiss.”

She moved to America to get her master’s degree

After graduating from Durham University in England, Seaborn headed to Duke University in North Carolina in 2013. In an interview with the Duke Chronicle, she said living in America was always part of her plan. “Ever since I was in high school, I’ve always wanted to study abroad in the United States,” Seaborn told the magazine.

After earning a master’s degree from Duke University, Seaborn headed to New York to work on Wall Street at the accounting firm Deloitte. She returned to the UK in 2016 and will work in the company’s London office until March 2024, according to her LinkedIn profile.

she was a field hockey star

Seaborn was something of a field hockey superstar in college. She began playing in college while attending Durham University in England, leading her team to the British Universities Championship in 2012 and 2013.

She continued to play field hockey at Duke University while studying in business school.

Seaborn is still trying to find time to play field hockey today. In 2021, a photographer spotted Sheeran watching Seaborn play with his team in Suffolk.

she is friends with taylor swift

After reuniting in New York in 2015, Sheeran and Seaborn had their first official date at Taylor Swift’s Rhode Island mansion. The two met there at Swift’s legendary Fourth of July party.

Sheeran told PEOPLE in 2017, “I went on tour again, and then I went to Taylor’s Fourth of July party. I was texting[Seaborn]and she said, ‘I’m in Rhode Island for the Fourth of July party,’ and I was like, ‘Me too.'” I said to Taylor, “Can I invite one of my old classmates?” The rest is history. ”

A year later, the couple celebrated their first wedding anniversary at another Swift party. Sheeran and Seaborn were spotted kissing on the lips in a photo taken by Swift’s friend Abigail Anderson.

In a since-deleted Instagram post, Anderson wrote, “When there’s literally so much love around, the only option is to make room for all the love flags and sing love songs to each other. @taylorswift We love you! Hats off to this year’s photobomb @teddysphotos.”

The “Shape of You” singer also told PEOPLE that Swift and Seaborn have since developed their own friendship. “(My girlfriend) and Taylor have been hanging out a lot without me. I think we’re having some gal talk,” he said. “I don’t know what they think about cats or anything.”

She’s Sheeran’s musical muse

Sheeran released his album “÷ (Divide)” in March 2017, which includes the ballad “Perfect.” The singer later revealed that she wrote the song after attending a party at James Blunt’s house with Seaborn.

“We were beaten so badly that we took off our shoes and danced on his lawn, then jumped into the pool,” he told Radio.com. “And the next day I thought, ‘This is a great story,’ so I put it into a song.”

Sheeran’s verse for Taylor Swift’s “Endgame” also appears to have been inspired by Seaborn. In the song, he sings, “We’ve known each other since we were young/We connected when we were a little older,” and “Something happened on Independence Day.”

He also mentions her in the song “Remember the Name” by No. 6 Collaborations Project. In the song, he raps, “Look how the lyrics of this song get twisted/My wife wears red, but she looks better without lipstick.” In an interview with Charlamagne Tha God, he explained, “Actually, that was before me and Cherry got married, and I thought we were going to get married once this song came out.”

Seaborn also tends to be involved in Sheeran’s music career whenever possible. In a 2021 interview with Entertainment Tonight Canada, Sheeran revealed that Seaborn chose “Bad Habits” as the album’s first single, and that his wife is very “business-minded” when it comes to his music.

“She wasn’t wrong,” he said. “There’s one song she told me to cut from the album, and now the album makes more sense.”

She influenced Sheeran’s hiatus from music

Seaborn returned to the UK in 2016 to be closer to Sheeran, and soon after, Sheeran took a brief break from making music.

In an interview with Beats 1/Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, the singer said, “It was basically like, ‘Let’s both quit our jobs and have a year to build a solid bond and relationship.’ So we went on trips and spent every day together for a year.”

Sheeran also spoke exclusively to PEOPLE about his break from music ahead of the release of the Apple Music documentary Songwriter. “After the tour, I realized I hadn’t really lived my life,” he said. “I hadn’t really developed relationships with people, so I had to take a year off and spend time with my friends and family and Cherry and really become a human being.”

During that vacation, Seaborn and Sheeran traveled together to places like Fiji, Italy, and Australia. “She wasn’t really doing anything either, so it was an opportunity for both of us to get to know each other and live life a little bit,” the singer tells PEOPLE of the couple’s trip.

Their eldest daughter’s name has a special meaning

Sheeran has previously opened up about the meaning behind the name of his and Seaborn’s eldest daughter, Lyra Antarctica.

Appearing on British morning show Lorraine, Sheeran said the couple wanted to give her a unique name, explaining: “I know some people think it’s quite an odd name, but my wife calls me Cherry and I think she’s the only Cherry I’ve ever met and I love it.”

She also said her middle name, Antarctica, was inspired by a trip the couple took before Seaborn got pregnant. “When we finished touring, I’d basically toured every continent, but I’d never been to Antarctica, so that was always on our list,” he said. “So I went there in 2019 and it was really amazing. It was the most amazing place on earth.”

She suffered from a tumor while pregnant with her second child.

As he announced his new album Subtract, Sheeran opened up about the series of events that changed his life in 2022. One of them was about his wife.

“My pregnant wife was told she had a tumor and there was no treatment option until she gave birth,” he said in a press release.

In March 2023, Sheeran spoke at length about Seaborn’s diagnosis in Rolling Stone. He said doctors discovered the tumor when his wife was six months pregnant and the couple considered bringing their daughter Jupiter into the world early. In the end, Seaborn carried the baby to term and had a “successful surgery” to remove the tumor.

Seaborn spoke publicly about his cancer diagnosis for the first time in Sheeran’s Disney+ documentary series, Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All.

“Being diagnosed with cancer earlier this year was a huge shock. It made me think deeply about our mortality,” said the mother-of-two, adding that she doesn’t usually consent to appear on camera. “It made me think, ‘Oh, if I die, what will people think of me? What will you leave behind?'”

she is a very private person

After appearing on Sheeran’s Disney+ docuseries, the “Shape of You” singer reiterated that Seaborn has no intention of living his life in the public eye.

“Cherry mentions it in the documentary, and we talked about it a lot, and we were like, can we just open the door a little bit and then close it,” Sheeran said on the Elvis Duran Morning Show. “She’s always been a private person. She’s never had an Instagram public. She’s never been on a red carpet with me. We’ve always been super private. Our private life is our private life.”

He also added that Seaborn is “trying to block out” the attention he has received since the series first premiered.

“I think everyone respects that. Now that the doors are closed again, she’s not someone that you’re going to see suddenly showing up on a panel show here and doing this and that,” Sheeran said.