Entertainment

Ed Sheeran Gave An Incredibly Inspiring Speech About Having A Stutter

by Adam Pliskin

You may not know this, but Ed Sheeran had to overcome a stutter to get where he is today.

Sheeran was honored by the American Institute for Stuttering, and he gave a stutter-free speech at the Freeing Voices Changing Lives Benefit Gala.

Sheeran spoke about his struggles as a young kid.

Sheeran said,

I was a very, very weird child. I had a port-wine stain birthmark on my face that I got lasered off when I was very young; one day, they forgot to put the anesthetic on, and ever since then, I had a stutter. I also had very big, blue NHS glasses -- NHS is the National Health Service, one day I hope you'll have the same! And I lacked an eardrum on one side of my ear, so stuttering was actually the least of my problems!

Sheeran went on to talk about how music helped him beat his stutter.

He continued,

My Uncle Jim told my dad that Eminem was the next Bob Dylan -- it's pretty similar, it's all just storytelling -- so my dad bought me The Marshall Mathers LP when I was nine years old, not knowing what was on it. I learned every word of it, back to front, by the time I was 10. He raps very fast and melodically and percussively, and it helped me get rid of the stutter.

Sheeran also made sure to tell the young people out there to embrace the things that make them different.

He added,

I wanted to not necessarily to shed light on stuttering or make it a thing, but stress to kids in general to just be yourself, because there's no one in the world that can be a better you than you. If you try to be the cool kid in class, you'll end up very boring and doing plumbing for someone who apparently wasn't that cool. Be yourself. Embrace your quirks. Being weird is a wonderful thing.… I have a f-ing football team now, that's pretty cool!

Thanks for the inspiring words, Ed!

Citations: Ed Sheeran Gives Inspiring Irreverent Speech on Stuttering (The Hollywood Reporter)