Ed Sheeran Misses Grandmother's Funeral to Attend 'Thinking Out Loud' Copyright Trial
Ed Sheeran got a lot off his chest while at the premiere for his Disney+ documentary, Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All, including that he missed his grandmother's funeral in Ireland due to his copyright trial in Manhattan federal court.
The 32-year-old GRAMMY-winning singer revealed Tuesday night at The Times Center in New York City that this year is proving to be challenging for a myriad of reasons, and the trial stemming over his track, "Thinking Out Loud," is just the tip of the iceberg.
"This week, for me at the moment, I got the documentary coming out, I got the album [Subtract] coming out Friday, I start my tour on Saturday, my grandmother's funeral is [Wednesday] [and] I'm still in this court case," said Sheeran while speaking to moderator Gayle King. "It's just another point in life when life is happening. Doesn't mean 2023 is a write-off. The worst days of your life always end at midnight."
Sheeran added that he gives himself 48 hours to "feel better" because things always turn around "in 48 hours ... not 24."
Sheeran's grandmother, Anne Nancy Sheeran, was laid to rest Wednesday in Ireland. She was 98. According to the Daily Mail, the singer was forced to miss the funeral in order to "defend his integrity" in court. Sheeran's father, John, spoke to a packed church while choking back tears eulogizing his mother.
"I'm very sad that our son, Edward, is unable to be here today," John said at the church, according to the outlet. "He's so upset that he cannot be present. He has to be thousands of miles away in a court in America defending his integrity."
The outlet also quoted John as saying he's "comforted by the fact that [Ed] was able to spend time alone with his grandma just a month ago."
Also at the premiere of his Disney+ documentary, Sheeran revealed that he cries over the death of his best friend, Jamal Edwards. Sheeran found out on Feb. 20, 2022 -- just one day after Sheeran and his wife, Cherry Seaborn, got the news about her cancer -- that Edwards, the founder of SBTV and a British music executive, had died. He was 31.
"I had friends in school whose parents passed when they were 14," Sheeran said. "And I look back like, 'That's when you became an adult.' I became an adult recently. Because grief instantly ends your youth."
As for the trial -- stemming from a lawsuit alleging he lifted portions of Marvin Gaye's iconic song, "Let's Get It On," to use in his song, "Thinking Out Loud" -- it has reached the closing arguments stage of the trial that kicked off last week.
During testimony last week, Sheeran made the startling admission that he cannot read music and doesn't have a degree in music despite having written for big industry names such as Justin Bieber, BTS, The Weeknd, Taylor Swift and Elton John, to name a few.
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