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Who is Ed Sheeran’s low-profile hockey player wife, Cherry Seaborn? His childhood friend inspired his hit song ‘Perfect’ and had a cancer scare while pregnant – but are they having marriage trouble?

Ed Sheeran’s wife, Cherry Seaborn, had a career with Deloitte in New York and London – and survived a cancer diagnosis during her second pregnancy in 2022. Photo: Getty Images
Ed Sheeran’s wife, Cherry Seaborn, had a career with Deloitte in New York and London – and survived a cancer diagnosis during her second pregnancy in 2022. Photo: Getty Images

  • Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn went to school together in Suffolk, England, before losing touch and reconnecting as adults. ‘Perfect’ was inspired by them partying together at James Blunt’s Ibiza home
  • An avid hockey player who did a master’s degree in the US, Seaborn had a career with Deloitte in New York and London – and survived a cancer diagnosis during her second pregnancy

Ed Sheeran and his wife Cherry Seaborn were spotted out together for the first time in eight months in November. Rumours about their marriage have been doing the rounds, but the couple seemed relaxed as they were spotted dining at The Araki in Mayfair, London.

The singer-songwriter’s seventh studio album Autumn Variations hints at marriage trouble, with the song “Punchline” including the lyrics, “I still feel like we could work it out … Why’s your heart so freezing cold?” In “The Day I Was Born”, Sheeran also sings, “I broke apart from my lover a couple months ago. If they were here, then I guess I wouldn’t be alone.”

While it’s not clear whether the songs are about their relationship, Sheeran and Seaborn have remained mum on the topic. So who is Cherry Seaborn anyway?

Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn were school friends

Cherry Seaborn and Ed Sheeran have known each other since they were children. Photo: @cherry.seaborn/Instagram
Cherry Seaborn and Ed Sheeran have known each other since they were children. Photo: @cherry.seaborn/Instagram
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Sheeran, 32, and Seaborn, 31, have known each other since they were youngsters at Thomas Mills High School in Suffolk, England. In an interview with Dax Shepard on his podcast Armchair Expert, Sheeran said that he and Seaborn were not romantically involved at school, adding that it “would have been a disaster”.

The pair lost touch but reconnected when a mutual friend invited them both out in 2015. Sheeran said he was nervous about seeing his old school friend because the last they’d seen each other, they had kissed. The two hit it off though and, after announcing their engagement in January 2018, they tied the knot a year later.

Seaborn’s impressive educational background

Cherry Seaborn has a master’s degree and worked for accounting firm Deloitte in New York and London before she became a mother. Photo: Getty Images
Cherry Seaborn has a master’s degree and worked for accounting firm Deloitte in New York and London before she became a mother. Photo: Getty Images

Per People magazine, after graduating from Durham University in England, Seaborn moved to the US in 2013 to study for a master’s at Duke University in North Carolina. In an interview with Duke’s student newspaper The Chronicle, she said that the US had always been part of her plan, as she’d always wanted to study there.

Seaborn then moved to New York, where she worked for accounting firm Deloitte, before moving back to the UK to work at its London office. Sheeran has often expressed pride in his wife’s career.

She’s a hockey star

Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn on holiday in Bangkok, in 2019. Photo: @teddysphotos/Instagram
Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn on holiday in Bangkok, in 2019. Photo: @teddysphotos/Instagram

Her husband may be a world-famous musician, but Seaborn’s own name is recognised in the world of hockey.