Ed Sheeran has said he is “on cloud nine” after announcing the birth of his first child.
Revealing the happy news on Instagram in his first social media post since December, the star said his wife, Cherry Seaborn, gave birth to a baby girl last week.
The couple have named their daughter Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran.
In his post, Sheeran shared a snap of a pair of baby socks and said Cherry had given birth to a “beautiful and healthy daughter – Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran”.
He continued: “We are completely in love with her. Both mum and baby are doing amazing and we are on cloud nine over here.”
The Instagram message received more than 500,000 likes – including one from David Beckham – within an hour of being posted, with fans congratulating the couple on their news.
Sheeran, 29, has kept his relationship with Seaborn out of the spotlight, confirming in 2019 that they had got married but releasing no further information.
Childhood friends who attended school together in Suffolk, they are rarely pictured together in public.
The singer, best known for hits including Sing, Thinking Out Loud, Shape Of You and Castle On The Hill, announced their engagement in 2018, saying: “Got myself a fiancee just before new year. We are very happy and in love, and our cats are chuffed as well x.”
Sheeran and Seaborn, pictured at an Ipswich Town match in 2018, met at school
Fans were given a rare glimpse into their romance in his Put It All On Me music video featuring Ella Mai, released last year.
The video featured a series of couples from all over the world, each with their own story. Towards the end, Sheeran and Seaborn were filmed together dancing, laughing and sharing a kiss, with a description of their love story appearing on screen.
“Back in high school, Ed & Cherry were crushing hard,” it said. “They made out at the castle on the hill.
“A few years ago they reconnected, there were fireworks. They married in January 2019.”
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At the end of last year, Sheeran announced he was taking a break after working “non stop” for the previous two years following the release of his third and fourth albums – Divide, in 2017, and No 6 Collaborations Project in 2019.
In a message to his millions of Instagram followers at the time, he said: “The Divide era and tour changed my life in so many ways, but now it’s all over it’s time to go out and see some more of the world.
“I’ve been a bit non stop since 2017 so I’m just gonna take a breather to travel, write and read. I’ll be off all social media until it’s time to come back.
“To my family and friends, see ya when I see ya – and to my fans, thank you for always being amazing, I promise to be back with some new music when the time is right and I’ve lived a little more to actually have something to write about.”