Ed Sheeran Reveals Why He Took A Year Off With Now-Fiancee Cherry Seaborn

You may have heard "Perfect" on the radio in the last year or so, but Ed Sheeran purposefully went MIA from the public limelight in 2017 and he had a good reason for it, as per his new interview with PEOPLE.

"I ended the tour and I [realized] I hadn’t ever really lived a life," Sheeran admitted during his chat with the magazine, which was published on Wednesday (September 5). "It's quite weird being a touring 'celebrity.' People assume you're living the best f**ing life in the world, but you don't really get to live any life because you work the whole time. I was like 'F**k, I'm 25, I left school early and went straight into touring.' I haven't properly formed relationships with people so I needed to have a year off and spend it with friends and family and [my now-fiancée] Cherry [Seaborn] and actually become a human being."

To be specific, part of that time was used to travel the world with Seaborn, where the lovebirds visited locations like Fiji, Italy and even America for Fourth of July festivities. 

Thankfully, the pop star's time off from his celebrity routine also benefited Seaborn, who jumped into her own career after earning her Masters degree at Duke University. "Cherry went to university and then she went to do her Masters at Duke in North Carolina, and went straight into working on Wall Street in New York," he recalled. "She hadn't really done anything either, so it was an opportunity for both of us to get to know each other and live life a little bit."

Just last week, word spread that the pair may already be married when Sheeran gestured to a silver ring on his left hand during an interview with "Access." "Congratulations, my friend. How did you sneak that one?" the interviewer said about talk of a wedding, to which the singer responded, "Well, I never really do anything too public anyway." We're still waiting on a verdict to that rumor!

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