Ellie Goulding recounts the Niall Horan and Ed Sheeran alleged cheating drama

Ellie Goulder is speaking up about the age-old rumors that she once cheated on Ed Sheeran with former One Direction member Niall Horan. The singer squashes the rumors by explaining she never officially dated Ed Sheeran.

The gossip started in 2014 when Ed Sheeran released his song ‘Don’t,’ about an unnamed singer who steps out on him to go be with another artist. At the time fans quickly connected the dots assuming the song was about Ellie Goulding and Niall Horan.

She only ever ‘dated’ Niall Horan

Goulding clarifies that at the time, she did go on “a few dates” with the former One Direction band member, but never dated Sheeran. The rumors however continued to follow her for years.

Most recently, In December 2022, one of her followers commented on a TikTok of hers and wrote: “Can’t believe u cheated on ed with Niall but slay fr.” She quickly responded “False!!!!! But also slay.”

She addresses these comments in an interview with The Daily Mail, “I think I was really drunk when I wrote that, yeah.”

Trauma from accusations

Goulding continues to address the situation as a whole, “It’s fascinating how many people are interested in that. It happened nine years ago. You know, completely honestly, it caused me a huge amount of ... stress is not the word. It caused me a lot of trauma, actually.”

The ‘Love Me Like You Do’ singer stresses in the interview that she and Sheeran never dated. She also goes on to explain how she envies people who can have private romantic lives.

“How old were we, 23? I envy the fact that my friends just spent their 20s having flings and one-night stands and what every 20-something goes through in private. But every single thing I did was written about,” she said.

Goulding goes on, “I was made to feel like a terrible person and I really struggled with that because I know I’m not.” She explains that she can now laugh about it, but that wasn’t always the case.

“I became kind of reclusive. I didn’t want to perform. That’s why I wrote that comment because every day I get comments about this stupid teenage situation,” she added. “It was nothing and it was private – and it caused me such a huge amount of grief and I resent it.”

She also adds that whatever did or did not happen between her and Sheeran was now “in the past.”

Ellie let go of her previous relationships following her engagement to art dealer, Caspar Jopling in 2018. The two married a year later in 2019, and in 2021 they also welcomed their first child, Arthur Ever Winter Jopling, together.