Ed Sheeran believes his musical talent is a gift from God.
Ed Sheeran
The 'Photograph' hitmaker admitted he was a "weird kid" who had a lot of medical problems when he was younger but he thinks his abilities to sing and play guitar balanced things out and he's now happy about his flaws because they "rounded" him.
He said: "I was a weird kid. I had a massive birthmark round my eye, had to get it lasered off, which f***ed my retina, and I have a lazy eye.
"That's why I hate red carpet photos,t here's always one where there's an eye going over there.
"I had NHS glasses, a wonky eye, a stutter and a missing ear drum.
"I couldn't swim unless I wore sports goggles which had a flicky thing at the top that everyone said was a penis.
"All the cool kids in primary school aren't doing a lot now and I've come out of it a hit.
"My view on it is God looked down one day and was like, 'F***ing hell, you need some help mate, here's a guitar.'
"I'm glad I had all that and I appreciate it now. It rounded me as an individual."
But the 27-year-old star knows he wouldn't have got where he is today without hard work and persistence.
He told Q magazine: "Persistence gets you wherever you want to go.
"My dad always said, 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained.' It was never, 'It either works or it doesn't', you don't stop until it works, basically.
"I applied that to the 'Thinking Out Loud' video, rehearsing five hours a day thinking, 'Why the f**k am I learning to dance? I make the music, someone else can dance.'
"But I set out to do it and I did it. If you feel like you should do something but it's a risk, just f***ing do it. If it's positive, obviously. Don't do anything bad!"
Tagged in Ed Sheeran