Ed Sheeran has managed to steer clear from the front pages and keep a low profile when it comes to his personal affairs.
We all know him for his ridiculously mushy (but brilliant) love songs, yet his love life has been kept under wraps since his rise to stardom – until he leaked the special news about marrying his high-school sweetheart in 2018, that is.
There’s little information on who he’s hooked up with in the past, but don’t fret – we’ve done some digging around and uncovered Ed Sheeran’s dating history in full.
So, continue reading below to see who else has captured the affections of this best-selling male artist.
Ex: Nina Nesbitt
Who is She? Singer
Dated In: 2012-2013
Ed Sheeran had a whirlwind romance with Scottish singer Nina Nesbitt, but due to their hectic schedules, the pair split up after a year. Nina had toured with him and even starred in his Drunk video clip, and in true Ed style, the relationship inspired his singles Photograph and Nina – the title being a clear giveaway who it was about.
When Nina was questioned about it, she didn’t mind too much, as their romantic relationship was in the past – “He warned me it was happening, but I didn’t know it was going on the album. I knew there was a song. I’m not really bothered. It was quite a long time ago and it’s a good song.”
Rumored Ex: Courteney Cox
Who is She? Actress
Dated In: 2013
Ed makes friends in the weirdest places and this time it was with Friends actress Courteney Cox. While news circulated of them being an item, it was clear that these two were just close mates. In fact, the Divide singer lived at Courtney’s house rent-free for three months at the start of his career.
They’ve been pictured on a double date since then with their respective partners and as of late, Ed has met up with Courteney again to reenact the iconic Ross and Monica dance from Friends as well as perform Tony Danza in tribute to Lisa Kudrow. We have a feeling these two are just really good (geeky) friends.
Rumored Ex: Selena Gomez
Who is She? Singer
Dated In: 2013
After one of Selena’s many break ups with Justin Bieber, it was rumored that she formed a romantic relationship with Ed Sheeran.
The two singers apparently met through Taylor Swift, and he even admitted to Rolling Stone about hooking up with her ‘famous friends’ – “Taylor’s world is celebrity. I was this 22-year-old awkward British kid going on tour with the biggest artist in America, who has all these famous mates. It was very easy. I would often find myself in situations just kind of waking up and looking over and being like, ‘How the f–k did that happen?’”
Ed previously admitted that he “wouldn’t complain” if they were ever matched up and they were even photographed leaving a party together and visiting each other’s homes, too.
At the time though, a source close to Selena confirmed that they were just friends, but she was “open minded” about dating Ed as he was “sensitive and sweet”, unlike her ex, Justin at the time.
Rumored Ex: Ellie Goulding
Who is She? Singer
Dated In: 2013
Rumors of a romantic relationship between these singers were sparked when they were spotted holding hands at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, but the blonde bombshell was quick to shut down the dating gossip.
That said, Ed later threw a spanner in the works by confirming that they were indeed an item – “I mean, normal people don’t hold hands if they’re just friends…It was going on. And now it’s not.”
According to various sources, the couple split because Ellie cheated on Ed with Niall Horan. This apparent ex-girlfriend even inspired Ed’s song Don’t. He told Billboard – “The story in Don’t is 100 percent true. I could have gotten nastier — there was more shit that I didn’t put in. I was seeing someone for a bit of time, and then they ended up physically involved with one of my friends in the same hotel that we were staying in, while I was downstairs.”
To this day, Ellie debunks the cheating rumors and denies ever being romantically involved with Ed.
Rumored Ex: Taylor Swift
Who is She? Singer
Dated In: 2013
They’re two of the world’s most popular stars with big collaborations, who also happen to hang out together ALL THE TIME, so it’s only expected that rumors would circulate about their relationship status.
Despite performing together multiple times, hanging out at hotels, and with Taylor Swift even donning an “I <3 Ed” t-shirt, it turns out these two are just A-list besties (I mean, Taylor is friends with every celeb). When asked whether he ever kissed Tay, Ed responded – “I’m a professional.”
When it was rumored that Taylor’s song Dress was about him, Ed confronted the stories once and for all in 2017 confirming that it definitely wasn’t about him – “I don’t think it is. I think if you read into it, it’s not…You know, because she mentions someone with a buzzcut haircut, and I’ve never had a buzzcut haircut.” Facts don’t lie, right?
Rumored Ex: Francesca Eastwood
Who is She? TV Personality
Dated In: 2013
When these young stars were spotted partying at Hooray Henry’s in 2013, the tabloids were hoping for a love story. However, Sheeran had supposedly left the party with another mystery woman, so it quickly put those rumors to bed. I mean, can you imagine having Clint Eastwood as your father-in-law? Yes, Francesca is the Hollywood star’s daughter.
Ex: Athina Andrelos
Who is She? Tour Manager
Dated In: Jan 2014 – Feb 2015
Ed met Athina in 2014 when she worked as a tour manager for his opening act and the couple quickly started dating. In fact, she was one of the few people to feature on Ed’s Instagram and the first official girlfriend in his life.
However, after a year of loved up photos, the pair went their separate ways, and while the reason for the break up is unclear, it’s believed that Thinking Out Loud was written about the Greek tour manager.
Rumor has it, Athina didn’t approve of Ed and Taylor Swift’s close relationship. According to the US edition of OK! Magazine, a source said, “It’s incredibly awkward for Ed, because Athina doesn’t want Taylor anywhere near them or their social circle.”
Rumored Ex: Barbara Palvin
Who is She? Victoria Secret’s Model
Dated In: March 2015
Just days after his split from Athina, Ed seemed to have rebounded with Victoria Secret’s model Barbara Palvin. When he supposedly took her for a meal to a popular burger bar and was photographed leaving a London nightclub with her, news was rife that Ed had bagged himself one of Justin Bieber’s ex-girlfriends.
However, nothing else came about regarding this relationship thereafter, so it seemed like these two were just having a good time with no strings attached.
Rumored Ex: Louise Johnston
Who is She? Model & TV Presenter
Dated In: May 2015
In 2015, news of a relationship between Ed Sheeran and TV presenter Louise Johnston started circulating. After apparently knowing each other for years and developing a “strong relationship”, things got serious between the two. A source told the Irish Mirror – “Friends and family now know, so it is out there. Louise really cares about him and it’s going very well.”
But Ed quickly put those rumors to bed when he told Capital London that he was still single and dealing with his breakup from Athina Andrelos – “It’s actually non-existent at the moment. I’m not in anything. My relationship ended and then the day after it ended I was in the Middle East, Asia, South America, New Zealand – I was just gone and in my mind I had no time to settle with it. So I was just working, working, working…
“So yeah I’m still kind of in that space, I’m still in my working space. I haven’t really had time to sit back and re-evaluate personal life, because I don’t really have a personal life.”
Rumored Ex: Nicole Scherzinger
Who is She? Singer
Dated In: Aug 2015
In 2015, rumors swirled that Ed was dating Nicole Scherzinger after she broke up with Lewis Hamilton. The Pussycat Doll turned up to one of Ed’s gigs alone, while he wooed her with Pizza Express meals. Some sources claimed the duo were indeed hooking up, but the fling soon fizzled out because of the age gap.
Following several photos together online, it was clear these two were actually just having flirty banter online. Nicole was playing up to the hype to make her ex jealous, and confirmed that the pair were just mates.
Poking fun at the dating rumors, Nicole told fans that she did flirt with Ed to have some fun with the press. She told Huffington Post – “It had been going on for so long, and Ed and I are good mates so we decided just having fun and taking the mick…We thought it was quite clever of us. I thought of it all on my own! He was like, ‘I love it!’”
Rumored Ex: Anne-Marie
Who is She? Singer
Dated In: 2017
It seems Ed can’t escape popstar flings! This pair were supposedly dating after they were spotted giggling backstage before performing their duet 2002. They’ve even watched Game of Thrones together, enjoyed dinners together, and joined each other on tour.
However, it’s safe to say that these two are just really close friends. Although, they would have made a very cute couple if they were romantically involved.
Rumored Ex: Jennie Pegouskie
Who is She? Model / Actress
Dated In: 2017
When the No.6 Collaborations Project star took his on-screen love interest (from his Shape of You video) to the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, eyebrows were raised as to whether these two were actually dating. However, it seems like it was just another wishful tale of Ed’s love story that year.
Rumored Ex: Saoirse Ronan
Who is She? Actress
Dated In: 2017
2017 was a busy year for Ed with lots of rumored girlfriends – one of them being actress Saoirse who starred in his Galway Girl music video. In the clip, the Equals singer frolics with the Hollywood star, bar-hopping, dancing, and drinking plenty of pints of beer together, but in real life, we can’t say this ‘love story’ turned out the same.
Ed may have a tattoo gone wrong (“Galway Grill” instead of “Galway Girl”) that has been credited to Ronan, but like the rest of the speculations for that year, these two were nothing more than friends.
Wife: Cherry Seaborn
Who is She? High-school sweetheart
Dated In: Sep 2015 – Now
Pretty much shutting down all the above rumored flings, it turns out Ed was actually seeing his now-wife Cherry Seaborn since 2015. What’s more? They’ve known each other since they were 11 years-old!
Cherry and Ed went to school together, but it wasn’t until 2015 when they were reconnected through a mutual friend that they started dating. The lucky lady even relocated from America to build on their special relationship!
He told People – “This has been the first time I’ve actually had the time to fall in love properly…so the catalyst of taking a year off was also the fact that my partner quit her job in New York — which she’s now got back in London, which is really cool — but we were just basically like, let’s quit our jobs and have a year of forming a tight bond. So we went travelling and spent every day for a year together.”
While he hasn’t revealed much more about his wife (other than she inspired the song Perfect), he did announce in 2018 that he was engaged and then they got married in a close-knit affair later that year.
Just a few years later, the couple welcomed their daughter Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran in August 2020, and in 2022, they had their second child, Jupiter Seaborn Sheeran.
After plenty of rumored relationships in this long timeline, Sheeran has clearly found his happily ever after with his childhood sweetheart and we couldn’t be happier for him!
Do you think he should have ended up with someone else from his dating history? Let us know by leaving a comment in the section below.
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