Ed Sheeran had just two pairs of socks before ‘accidentally’ finding fame

Ed Sheeran says much of his career has happened by ‘accident’ (Picture: Rex)

Ed Sheeran says he’s gone from a ‘fat ginger boy’ with smelly socks to creating a £220million music empire — all by ‘accident’.

These days he owns his own label, Gingerbread Man Records, and is settling into family life with his wife Cherry and their baby daughter Lyra Antarctica on their huge Suffolk estate.

And thanking his first hit The A Team for giving him a new underwear drawer, the 30-year-old said: ‘Looking back at when I wrote it versus where I am now — I had two pairs of socks. I literally never washed my socks and just changed socks.

‘I mean, if you’ve met anyone that knew me back then the one thing that everyone could agree on is my feet stank.’

And he was told that his fame hopes were a stinker, too.

‘Everyone was just like, “If you put on paper, there’s a fat ginger boy that raps with a small guitar, do you want to sign him? F*** no,’ Sheeran said.

Back after a four-year break with his No.1 single Bad Habits, Ed admitted that he could have never predicted he would become one of the biggest artists in the world back when he was couch surfing.

On his rise to superstardom, the Shape Of You singer confessed: ‘Now I have people say to me, “But you must have always known”, and I don’t think I knew.’

He told Oz radio show Smallzy’s Surgery on Nova 96.9: ‘Thinking Out Loud is one of the biggest songs that I’ve put out and that was meant to be a bonus track on the album. There’s so many things that have happened by accident or by chance.

‘It’s been a mad journey, like nothing feels planned or meant to be.

‘It’s just kind of happened and now I’m here.’

More guilty pleasures…

That’s no normal pic… Mescal’s photobomb

Mesc-ing about: Paul in background of nightclub snap (Picture: Orlmae Joscon Twitter)

These days he’s been sucked into the Hollywood PR machine — but these lost disposal camera pictures prove Paul Mescal was once just a normal person who partied with strangers.

One fan was stunned to discover who she thought was ‘some weirdo’ at a pre-Covid night out was the Normal People heartthrob, 25, who photobombed her and a friend in rediscovered dance floor photos.

Orlmae Joscon had forgotten about the snaps taken at The Workman’s Club in Dublin — two months before Mescal became a household name in the BBC3 series.

‘Just got my disposable cameras developed and found pre-famous Paul Mescal in my pics,’ said the 24-year-old.

‘We spent the whole night dancing with him and just assumed he was some weirdo.’

Not long after that night, 62million were gripped by Mescal and co-star Daisy Edgar-Jones’s love scenes as Connell and Marianne in the lockdown TV hit.

The actor has come a long way since he was snapped relaxing like any other Irish lad on the lash. Now up for an Emmy award, he has been styled for red carpets and Milan Fashion Week. And the once Instagram-mad star is so famous he has deleted his social media.

Joscon might be gutted to hear he also now has a celeb girlfriend, singer Phoebe Bridgers. Mescal recently told Guilty Pleasures other A-listers had given him advice on how to handle fame, including Northern Irish star Jamie Dornan.

Clara’s home free after radio success

Clara’s thrilled to have achieved her dream (Picture: Getty Images)

Clara Amfo has fulfilled an ‘unreachable’ childhood dream — finally buying her first house after her Radio 1 promotion.

The former Strictly star says she is ‘proud of her accomplishments’ as she never expected to get on the housing ladder after her parents emigrated from Ghana in the 1970s.

‘They taught me what hard work meant,’ the 37-year-old told Guilty Pleasures. ‘I’m not saying it in a boastful way, I just never expected to get here in my life.’

After taking over Annie Mac’s Future Sounds show, her next job is throwing our Tokyo Olympians a celebration at Wembley. She is hosting The National Lottery Team GB Homecoming party on August 15 — and took inspiration from sport to manage her own career by hiring an ex-athlete as a life coach.

Amfo, whose star has risen since making a powerful Black Lives Matter speech after George Floyd’s murder, said: ‘We met on Instagram and she is teaching me how to focus. I become overwhelmed when there is too much going on at one time.’

The presenter also revealed the pandemic changed her interview mentality. ‘I’ve become more aware of people’s humanity and what they might have gone through and might not be comfortable with,’ she shared.

She’ll be hosting sets from Anne-Marie, Bastille, Griff, Laura Mvul a and Rag’n’Bone Man at the party. And a second gig, The National Lottery’s ParalympicsGB Homecoming, will take place on September 12. To win tickets via a ballot see TokyoHomecoming.com.

Amy’s parents hadn’t met her hubby before wedding

Winehouse and Fielder-Civil married in 2007 (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)

Amy Winehouse never introduced her bad boy ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil to her parents before the pair slunk off to marry on a Miami beach at the height of their drug woes.

On the tenth anniversary of the Back To Black star’s death, her mum Janis revealed her shock at Amy’s 2007 wedding to the jailbird, who she’d never met.

‘When she got married she said, “We did this but we’ll have another time”,’ Janis, 66, told Lorraine.

‘Amy did what Amy wanted to do, and that was the bottom line of it. She was very, very strong.’

Don’t Belieb row claims, says Hailey

Hailey defended her husband (Picture: Instagram/Hailey Bieber/Twitter/JBCrewdotcom)

Justin Bieber’s missus Hailey has branded claims that he ranted at her outside a Vegas club ‘bulls***’.

A TikTok video showed Bieber, 27, appearing very animated as security led the couple out of the Wynn’s XS club at the weekend.

But Mrs B insisted all is well in paradise. Posting a snap of them kissing, Hailey, 24, wrote on Instagram: ‘Reminiscing on how amazing last weekend was… had the best time surrounded by so much love.

‘Any other narrative floating around is beyond false. Don’t feed into the negative bulls-t peeps.’

Cardi’s hair-raising shoot

Things turned hairy when Cardi B and Normani twinned in their birthday suits.

The US stars unleashed their Wild Side in a shoot for their collab of that name. Rapper Cardi wrote: ‘The world is ready for Normani supremacy!!!!’

And ex-Fifth Harmony star Normani was clearly excited for the track, adding: ‘I watched the video again… sis what the actual f***.’ It seems Cardi went nude before her baby bump was visible — she is expecting a second kid with on-off hubby Offset.

More: Metro newspaper

Ex-ercise day for Katy and Kerr

Orlando Bloom might be the one sweating after his ex-wife Miranda Kerr and fiancée Katy Perry started doing yoga together.

Perry — who welcomed daughter Daisy Dove with Bloom last year — joined Kerr at Malibu’s Jonathan Club for a wellness day with trainer Nichelle Hines and Danish-born supermodel Josephine Skriver.

Cuddling up to the Aussie model on Instagram, Katy, 36, posted: ‘Spent me #wellnesswednesday with my gal @mirandakerr. First time I did yoga since being preggers.’ And Miranda, 38, shared the post, adding: ‘I love you Katy Perry.’

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