Ed Sheeran makes frank admission about his secret health battle | CPT PPP Coverage

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Ed Sheeran has revealed he developed an eating disorder after comparing himself to fellow pop stars Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes.

The English singer, 32, said in the early days of his career he couldn’t help but compare himself unfavourably to his contemporaries.

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“I’m self-conscious anyway, but you get into an industry where you’re getting compared to every other pop star,” he recently told Rolling Stone, adding that he always felt he was “fat”.

“I was in the One Direction wave, and I’m like, ‘Well, why don’t I have a six-pack?’

“And I was like, ‘Oh, because you love kebabs and drink beer’.

“Then you do songs with Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes.

“All these people have fantastic figures.

“And I was always like, ‘Well, why am I so … fat?’”

Sheeran said he ended up doing what Elton John has spoken about in the past – bingeing then purging.

“I found myself doing what Elton John talks about in his book – gorging, then it would come up again,” he said.

The singer said “as a man” he felt “mad uncomfortable” in opening up about his eating disorder, but added that “it was good to be honest” about it.

“I have a real eating problem. I’m a real binge eater. (I) binge everything,” he admitted, before adding that his eating habits were now in check.

“I’m now more of a binge exerciser, and a binge dad,” he said.

“And work, obviously.”

Male body pressure

In the world of celebrity, body image issues and eating disorders also impact men across the film, music and entertainment industries.

Sheeran isn’t the only male celebrity to come forward about having an eating disorder, or to talk openly about the pressure to look “perfect” affecting men as well as women.

Late in 2022, Outlander star Sam Heughan revealed in his memoir, Waypoints, that he had a “low-level” eating disorder in the early days of his career.

He said he was “quite green” at the beginning of his acting career and there were a lot of industry pressures he didn’t really understand.

“When I started out, there were a lot of pressures to look a certain way,” he told The Today Show in the US after the book’s publication.

“And they were less talked about for men.

“And certainly, as a young actor, impressionable, I was trying to fit into what was required.

“Women talk about it a lot, but I don’t think men do.”

Body image and self-esteem

In 2019, more than 360,000 Australian men were living with an eating disorder, Australian Men’s Health reported.

Although women and girls are more likely to experience all types of eating disorders than men and boys, when it comes to binge eating disorders, the statistics are closer to 50-50.

“Body dissatisfaction is a pervasive problem with increasing impacts on young boys and men,” Butterfly Foundation CEO Kevin Barrow said, as per Men’s Health.

“We are seeing more young boys overvaluing body image, which leads to evaluating their self-worth based on appearance.”

If you or anyone you know has an eating disorder, or if you would like information, referrals or counselling for eating disorders, disordered eating or body image concerns, contact The Butterfly Foundation on 1800 33 3673 or butterfly.org.au

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