Ed Sheeran‘s four-part docuseries, The Sum of It All, is now streaming on Disney+. At the series premiere in New York City this week, Ed said the series is “uncomfortable” for him to watch and gives fans a rare glimpse into his family life.
Ed explained the producers approached him with the idea of doing a film “not really to do with your music, but to do with you as a human.” Ed says he gave them “a load of footage” he’d already shot, then told them they could follow him around.
“They’ve made what I think is a really beautiful documentary,” he said of the series. “It’s uncomfortable for me at times to watch, but I think people will connect to it.”
It shows Ed dealing with the death of his best friend Jamal Edwards, his pregnant wife’s cancer diagnosis and other challenges, which sent him into a depression.
“I had to put a lot of trust in the filmmakers for this,” Ed said. “I mean, my wife, Cherry, she’s never been interviewed before. She’s never been on screen. So that was, like, a big deal. My parents, as well.”
“[The filmmakers] coming to my home, them sorta being around my family and my children … coming to Jamal’s memorial … I’m usually quite a private person, so it was quite a big deal to sort of open the door,” he added.
But he’s glad he did.
“I feel that the series tackles subjects that everyone goes through, so it’s not like me being, like, ‘I’m a famous person. These are famous problems,"” he says. “I feel like everyone goes through grief, everyone goes through mental health troubles and everyone has sickness in their family.”
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