Ed Sheeran slept rough outside Buckingham Palace before he found fame.
The 23-year-old hitmaker has revealed that he was forced to "sofa-surf" and sleep on the streets of London for over two and a half years before he found success with his debut album, ‘Plus’ in 2011.
As part of his new book, ‘A Visual Journey’, Ed documented his tragic living arrangements. He wrote: "There was an arch outside Buckingham Palace that has a heating duct and I spent a couple of nights there.
"I didn’t have anywhere to live for much of 2008 and the whole of 2009 and 2010, but somehow I made it work.
"I knew where I could get a bed at a certain time of night and I knew who I could call at any time to get a floor to sleep on. Being sociable helped. Drinking helped."
The ‘Don’t’ singer-songwriter also admitted that he spent a lot of his time trying to sleep on the London Underground to keep him sane.
He wrote: "I spent a week catching up on sleep on the Circle line trains.
"I’d go out and play a gig, wait until 5am when the Underground opened, sleep on the Circle Line until 12, go to a session – and then repeat. It wasn’t that bad."
Ed – who has won two Brit Awards and three Teen Choice Awards – also noted that his homeless lifestyle had some unexpected side effects.
He shared: "I didn’t have the best personal hygiene at that point because I didn’t get a chance to shower. It was just: sleep on the train, session, sweat on stage, drink, sleep on the train. I had 23 dreads on one side of my head from not washing my hair."
Ed Sheeran slept rough outside Buckingham Palace
