Ed Sheeran Says His Court Win Over ‘Thinking Out Loud’ Was ‘About Heart & Integrity’

Ed Sheeran gave his first interview on Friday (May 5) in the wake of winning his court case in defense of “Thinking Out Loud.”

“The one thing that felt like the biggest win for me was, afterwards, Katherine Griffin Townsend and her family and everyone came up to me, hugged me and said, ‘We believe you,'” the singer-songwriter said on The Elvis Duran and the Morning Show. “And I got to walk away … from it knowing I did the right thing.”

The star added that he felt in some ways that the court case, in which he’d been accused of stealing parts of Marvin Gaye’s 1973 classic “Let’s Get It On” for his 2014 smash by Gaye’s producer Ed Townsend, had “overshadowed” the other major things happening in his life, such as the premiere of his new documentary Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All and the release of his latest album Subtract.

“On both sides, it takes a massive toll — both personally and financially — but it’s about heart and integrity, and that’s why I fought it was, I can’t be accused of something that I didn’t do. So I just had to prove that,” he explained.

During the trial, Sheeran took the stand in his own defense, offering an education in songwriting and chord structures, and even breaking into song in different parts of his testimony to prove his point.

However, he’s now ready to focus on moving forward and celebrating his album release and docu-series, which is now airing on Disney+. “I very much see the two things as coming hand in hand,” he told Duran. “You know, the documentary goes with the album and the album goes with the documentary. ‘Cause the last thing I want to do is bring more attention to my personal life, but I felt that opening up that door gave more context to the record.”

Watch Sheeran’s full post-win interview above.