Ed Sheeran has been discussing his thoughts on One Direction’s brush with controversy earlier this year when Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson were caught on film smoking what appeared to be marijuana.

Speaking to Event magazine about his realtionship with the boy band, Ed stated:

“When I see them – the last time I saw all of them was last year at the MTV Video Music Awards, but I see Harry quite a lot – I don’t counsel them.”

He continued: “We have a drink and some fun. Whenever I see them, they’re fine, but I have times where I don’t handle things very well and I mask it, and I’m sure they can mask it as well. I don’t have any of the frustrations that they might have, because they have to make decisions as five, whereas I’m my own man. That’s the balance they have to get.”

Talking about his own references to drinking and drugs in his song lyrics, the ‘Don’t’ troubadour said:

“I’m not trying to rebel, I’m just doing what anyone would do at my age. Anything I speak about in my songs is not a foreign thing for someone my age to do nowadays. It’s not so much about temptation or peer pressure, it’s just about being in situations and wanting to experience things, so that later on in life I can say, ‘Well, I’ve done that, I’ve done this, I enjoyed that, this wasn’t so much fun.’”

23-year-old Sheeran also admitted to sometimes overindulging in drink and drugs when feeling tense:

“There have been a couple of times over the past few years, but it’s not a regular thing. It happens when I’m under an immense amount of stress and pressure, and things just build up. But it’s not as dark as people make out. It’s educational.”

Ed Sheeran will find out later today (June 20) if he has managed to stay at the top of the UK album chart for a fourth week with his LP 'x'. 

Follow us: @Pressparty on Twitter / Pressparty on Facebook.

Watch Ed Sheeran live below: