Ed Sheeran says he "didn't want to live any more" after the deaths of his friends SBTV founder Jamal Edwards and cricketer Shane Warne in 2022.
Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine, the star said he had dealt with depression "throughout my life" and felt the feelings resurface last year.
"You're under the waves drowning. You're just sort of in this thing. And you can't get out of it."
He worried his thoughts were "selfish", given that he is a parent to two girls.
"Especially as a father, I feel really embarrassed about it," the 32-year-old said.
Sheeran credited his wife, Cherry Seaborn, with encouraging him to seek help.
"No one really talks about their feelings where I come from," he said. "People think it's weird getting a therapist in England.… I think it's very helpful to be able to speak with someone and just vent and not feel guilty about venting.
"Obviously, like, I've lived a very privileged life. So my friends would always look at me like, 'Oh, it's not that bad.'
"The help isn't a button that is pressed, where you're automatically OK," he continued. "It is something that will always be there and just has to be managed."
Edwards, who gave Sheeran his first big break, died suddenly from a heart attack in February 2022 after taking cocaine and drinking alcohol, a coroner concluded.
Sheeran said the tragedy convinced him to kick a drug habit he had developed in his 20s.
"I remember just being at a festival and being like, 'Well, if all of my friends do it, it can't be that bad,'" he said. "And then it just turns into a habit that you do once a week and then once a day and then, like, twice a day and then, like, without booze. It just became bad vibes.
"I would never, ever, ever touch anything again, because that's how Jamal died," he added. "And that's just disrespectful to his memory to even, like, go near."