Singer Ed Sheeran says he only grew up after the death of best friend Jamal Edwards.
Music entrepreneur Jamal, 31, died from a heart attack in February 2022 after taking cocaine and drinking alcohol.
And Sheeran, 32, said he struggled to cope with the loss of the DJ who gave him his big break.
He added: “The one thing I’ve realized is the moment death happens, a real close, close death, is when you become an adult.
“That’s when adulting begins, that’s when real-life s*** begins.”
Sheeran said he felt lucky he did not suffer grief until his 30s, unlike schoolmates forced into adulthood at 13 when their dads died.
He added: “You can be six and go through that and it’s just cruel that that is the end of your youth.”
Sheeran said after Jamal’s death he was able to speak with his mum Imogen and pals about their losses. He added: “I am very fortunate that I lived a large part of my life without experiencing what it’s like. And when it happens, I had friends that had closed up about their parents dying.
“And as soon as this happened, I found them opening up to me.
“I found my mum opening up to me about losses in her life that she’s never spoken to me about.”
In an interview with exercise brand Peloton, in which songs from new album Subtract played, Sheeran also said daughter Jupiter kept him grounded in hard times.
He said: “Throughout sadness with kids, they’re having a great time. But also it’s just their world. You know, she’s sad, she’s sad, she’s happy, she’s happy, but you have to come along for the ride.”
A number of tracks for Subtract were axed at the last minute when the LP became more about grief and recovery after Jamal’s death.
But that means Sheeran has the makings of another new album if he wants to release one.
He said: “All the other music made for Subtract is still there.
“I don’t know if it turns into Subtracted or something else but it’s gonna see the light of day.”
A Disney+ documentary earlier this year also covered Sheeran’s sadness over Jamal’s death.
In The Sum Of It All, the pop superstar was seen crying in a car after attending a memorial for Jamal with his tragic pal’s mother, Brenda.
Sheeran said of his grief on the show: “It just took over my whole life. I was thinking, ‘I don’t want to cry in front of 78,000 people’. I found myself really close at times.
“It’s just mad, straight back to it. The show must go on.”
