Relationship Goals: Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn Show the Lasting Power of Childhood Friendship

Welcome to #RelationshipGoals, where we’re giving the stage to the power couples we admire. From admirable long-term relationships to inspirational newlyweds, these are the couples we love and hope to take cues from in our own relationships.

Sometimes, love comes in exactly the way you’d imagine it. Other times, it creeps up from behind and surprises you.

And then still others, it comes from a place that’s been there all along but which you never expected, the most unlikely of places.

That’s what happened to Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran when he was reunited with an old high school crush, Cherry Seaborn, on the 4th of July, 2015.

As Sheeran tells it in a joint interview with Taylor Swift for The Sun, Swift was integral in making the match happen.

In discussing Sheeran’s lyrics on his collaborative track with Swift, “End Game”, Taylor remarked, “I wanna talk about the Fourth of July line because that makes me really happy.”

“Well, you see, it’s kind of a play on words,” says Sheeran. “Well, not really a play on words. There’s a film with Tom Cruise called Born on the Fourth of July. My relationship started on the Fourth of July.” To which Swift teased back, “At whose house?”

Motioning to Taylor, Sheeran went on, “At Taylor’s house. So the story was, I was at Taylor’s party, and then a girl I went to school with who’s pretty cool ended up being in Rhode Island…I was like, ‘Taylor, can she turn up?’ And here we are.”

Why Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn are a true power couple

Once upon a time, a little red-haired boy who was destined for greatness had a crush on his pretty brunette classmate.

The time was the late-2000s, the place Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham, England. But the two were not fated to join here as the fair maiden left town to attend Duke University in the states.

Fifteen years later, the two hit it off through a mutual friend -- and a curiously convenient 4th of July party -- and things picked up quickly for the musician and Seaborn, a multi-faceted business consultant and British hockey star.

Sheeran being a touring mega-star and Seaborn juggling work as a financial consultant and hockey player -- having helped lead the British U21 hockey team to a bronze medal victory at the 2012 European Championships -- made things difficult in the beginning.

However, despite the distance -- at the time, Seaborn lived in the states while Sheeran was in the UK -- and shared difficulty that came with busy lifestyles, the two always made time for one another.

In fact, they picked up so quickly that by 2016, Sheeran was already writing love songs inspired by Seaborn.

In an interview with Us Weekly, Sheeran opened up about how Seaborn was the inspiration behind his smash hit “Perfect”.

“The line that goes, ‘Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song’ was about when we were in Ibiza listening to Future’s 'March Madness', literally not wearing any shoes and going mental on the lawn, which was quite a nice time,” says Sheeran. “I didn’t see her first reaction to the song because she lived in New York at the time. So I just emailed it to her but she did really like it.”

Baby, I'm dancing in the dark with you between my arms. Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song.

And one year later, in December of 2017, Sheeran and Seaborn were officially engaged, an occasion Sheeran marked with an Instagram post the following month in January:

“Got myself a fiancé just before new year,” said Sheeran alongside a picture of him kissing Seaborn on the cheek. “We are very happy and in love, and our cats are chuffed as well xx.”

Months later, without explicitly confirming the marriage, Sheeran (who is notoriously private) was spotted wearing a ring and appeared to have wed his childhood sweetheart in a ceremony away from public eyes.

While promoting his then-new documentary an interview with Access Hollywood, when asked if he had picked out any details for the wedding, Sheeran held up his left hand to show his engagement ring and said, "I never do anything too public anyway.”

"[I] Always thought I'd end up dating like an actress or something, someone in the industry," Sheeran told Radio.com, who said Seaborn is “undoubtedly” the one. But, as it turns out, "I'm a hometown boy.”

All the times they inspired us with their love

Despite their hectic lives, from the very beginning, Sheeran and Seaborn invested the time they needed to develop their relationship and fall in love.

Around the beginning of 2016, Sheeran took a hiatus from his music career and Seaborn quit her job in New York at the time to move back to London where Sheeran was.

Throughout 2016, the couple took the time to travel the world with one another, enjoying the time together and allowing their love to blossom.

In an interview with Zach Lowe of Beats1 Radio, Sheeran said the trip gave them, "The time to fall in love properly." He went on to explain, “We were just basically like, let's quit our jobs and have a year of forming a tight bond. So we went traveling and spent every day for a year together.”

Following their magical year together, the two continued to support one another, with Sheeran even surprising Seaborn’s team on one occasion, taking pictures with her teammates after watching her play.

While reflecting on his past relationships, Sheeran told Clash magazine: “I always thought to have a really good career, you always had to be incredibly unhappy, and I always thought to be really happy, you had to have a bad career, because I didn't see the balance of the two.”

“And I've realised that that's obviously bulls**t, and just what you tell yourself to justify it. I live with Cherry now. We've got cats, we have takeaways and watch movies, we have people round for dinner. I've never had that.”

Now, they look forward to what the future may hold.

"I wanted to be a dad, like, last year. I'm ready, let's go -- tour bus babies, little fat, chubby babies that just walk around," Sheeran told Beats1.

Their biggest relationship takeaway

Relationships can be complicated and, despite what most seem to think, aren’t perfect, natural wonders.

They take work, but if you’re willing to invest time into making them work, beautiful things can happen.

"I've never been happier. I've never been more comfortable. I've never been more inspired,” Sheeran said to Beats1. “I feel like everything's fallen into place, and it's fallen into place because I've given it the time to fall into place."

Other inspiring love stories: 

• How Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively Prove Friendship Is the Strongest Base for Love
• Why John Legend and Chrissy Teigen’s Relationship Offers An Incredible Lesson in Trust and Support
• Why Will and Jada Will Never Divorce – And What Their Commitment Can Teach Us