Ed Sheeran’s love songs have arguably defined a generation—but who is the person who inspires his lyrics?
Meet Cherry Seaborn, the Grammy-winning British singer-songwriter’s wife of six years, mother of his children, and muse behind some of his most iconic tracks. The two first met as kids, but didn’t officially get together until 2015. They quietly got married in January 2018 and have since welcomed two daughters: three-year-old Lyra and one-year-old Jupiter.
Keep scrolling to read everything we know about Seaborn.
She is a corporate professional with a focus on climate change.
Specifically, Seaborn is a manager on the world climate team for financial consulting firm Deloitte. According to her LinkedIn profile, she focuses primarily “on bringing people and organizations together to accelerate innovative and impactful solutions to combat climate change and benefit nature.” Her bio additionally notes that she is “an entrepreneur with a love for nature and genuine concern for the health of the planet.”
Prior to working at Deloitte, Seaborn earned a postgraduate certificate in sustainable business from Cambridge University and a master’s degree in business from Duke University.
She may be starting a new retail business.
In early January 2024, The Sun reported that Seaborn had filed documents to register Babes in Armour as a retail brand with the U.K. government. The documents indicated that the brand may sell apparel, toiletries, and/or lingerie, according to the outlet.
She plays field hockey.
Seaborn is an accomplished, championship-winning field hockey athlete, having played the sport at both Durham and Duke, and as as part of England’s under-21 and under-18 national teams.
Duke’s athletic website notes that she helped her team “reach the NCAA championship match,” “totaled six goals for 12 points,” and “ranked second on the team in game-winning goals with three.”
Cherry met Ed when they were kids.
In a 2021 interview with Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert podcast, Sheeran revealed that he and Seaborn were “really close friends” growing up.
The two lost contact when Seaborn left the United Kingdom to study at Duke and Sheeran went on tour, but they spontaneously reconnected in 2015.
“One day, [my friend Lauren] was in New York and she went to go out with Cherry because Cherry worked on Wall Street,” Sheeran recalled, per People. “And then she was like, ‘Oh, Cherry Seaborn is in town—do you want to hang out?’ I was like, ‘Yes.’”
He added, “In my head, the last time I’d seen Cherry we hooked up. … I was like, What if she remembers that? Because it was like a while ago. It was very innocent. Very gentle—it was a kiss.”
Ed has spoken openly about how Cherry inspires his music.
Over the years, Sheeran has revealed the different ways in which Seaborn has served as a muse for some of his biggest hits.
For instance, the 2017 ballad “Perfect,” from his third studio album, Divide, was inspired by a sweet moment he shared with Seaborn at a party at fellow singer James Blunt’s house. “We got really hammered and took our shoes off and danced on his lawn and then jumped in the pool,” Sheeran told Radio.com. “And then the next day I was like, ‘That’s a cool story,’ so I put it in a song.”
In a 2019 conversation with Charlamagne Tha God, Sheeran mentioned Seaborn’s influence on various tracks from his fourth album, No.6 Collaborations Project. In “Remember the Name,” the lyrics hinted at their secret nuptials: “Watch how the lyrics in the songs might get twisted / My wife wears red, but looks better without the lipstick.”
Sheeran explained to Charlemagne, “It was actually before me and Cherry got married, and I knew that we’d be married by the point that the song came out. [I thought,] Someone’s gonna hear that and be like, ‘Oh, they’re married!’ I didn’t know how that would be construed, but obviously it’s already come out.”
Sheeran also discussed the song “I Don’t Care,” which features Justin Bieber. “Bieber just got married. I’d just got married,” Sheeran said. “That song is about being at an industry event with the woman you love, or the person you love, and kind of being like, ‘Fuck this, let’s just have fun ourselves.’” He added that Bieber’s inclusion “was actually Cherry’s idea. She was like, ‘Oh, why don’t you get Bieber? Like, he’d be perfect for this … it just fits.’”