Ed Sheeran talks bike accident, opens up about past substance abuse
— -- Ed Sheeran is finally explaining that bike accident that forced him to cancel some shows. He's also opening up about his struggles with substance abuse.
Sheeran explained on the British talk show, The Jonathan Ross Show, that the accident happened when he tried to go down a steep hill on a borrowed bike. Sadly, the singer didn't realize how badly he'd been hurt.
"I broke my wrist, my elbow and my rib," he said Saturday. "When it happened, I got up and was like, ‘That hurt’ and then cycled to the pub. Went home, went to sleep and then woke up at 5 o’clock in the morning in a lot of pain. And then went to the hospital.”
Ed, who calls himself "a very clumsy person," noted that this is the first time he's ever had to cancel shows due to an injury.
"I do a one-man show, so me not having my arms is half of the show," he explained. "I tried to say 'I’ll carry on doing the shows,' but they said if I put any more stress on it, I might not be able to play again."
Earlier this week, Sheeran, 26, announced in a caption on Instagram that five shows on the Asia leg of his tour "will not be able to go ahead as planned."
The singer also revealed on The Jonathan Ross Show that he had a hard time adjusting to fame, and as a result, he said, "All the pitfalls that people read about, I just found myself slipping into all of them ... mostly substance abuse."
Sheeran's friends eventually staged an intervention.
"It just started gradually happening and then some people took me to one side and were like, ‘Calm yourself down,’" he recalled. "It’s all fun to begin with, it all starts off as a party and then you’re doing it on your own and it’s not, so that was a wake-up call."
ABC News reached out to a representative for Sheeran, but did not immediately hear back.
