Ed Sheeran has revealed that he received so much abuse about his weight from Twitter bullies that he lost four stone.
The Thinking Out Loud singer reached 16 stone and would be regularly insulted by social media trolls who called him ‘fat’ and ‘chunky’.
It got so bad that he quit Twitter in 2017 and decided to do something about his weight.
Sheeran said: “I never had insecurities and people pointed them out — your brain starts thinking about them.
“It all stems from other people’s insecurities. So many people have things they’re insecure about so it makes them feel better to point out someone else’s.
“Because half the people that would point out that I’m fat are probably fat themselves.”
The star said that he didn’t appear in his first four music videos because he was worried about his looks compared to other singers.
He said: ““I wasn’t in my first three or four videos.
“I was the same sort of age as the One Direction boys and Justin Bieber and all these people who had six-packs and I was kind of like, ‘Oh should I look like this?’”
Sheeran had a lot of support from his wife Cherry and embarked on a strict diet and exercise regime.
He added: “My problem was I’d go to the pub, have bangers and mash, a pie, maybe a pudding and then loads of pints. And then not exercise.
“My friends used to call me Two Dinners Teddy. On tour, it’s very easy to drink every single day because there’s always someone visiting.
“I had to make a real effort on the tour. I’m 12st now. I started running. I’ve got into cycling as well.”
Written by Michael Kehoe @michaelcalling