Niall Horan’s affectionate response to Ed Sheeran’s Instagram throwback as pair confirm their ‘rift’ is over… 11 years after One Direction star’s ‘fling’ with Ellie Goulding

Niall Horan confirmed his famous rift with Ed Sheeran is fully resolved as he responded to his old friend across social media on Wednesday.

Sheeran hinted at a bitter fall-out with the former One Direction star in 2014 after singing about an ex-girlfriend cheating with one of his friends – widely believed to be Niall and Ellie Goulding – on the hit single Don’t.

But the ensuing decade appears to have healed old wounds, with Sheeran, 34, recently sharing an old photo of himself and Horan with Instagram followers.

The photo is part of an online promotional campaign for Sheeran’s latest single, Old Phone, with the singer-songwriter treating fans to a barrage of celebrity throwback photos from his phone archive.

Acknowledging the post, Horan, 31, later shared the same photo on his own Instagram platform with the affectionate response: ‘Love ya.’

+8
View gallery

Niall Horan confirmed his famous rift with Ed Sheeran is fully resolved as he reposted a photo originally shared by his old friend across social media on Wednesday

+8
View gallery

Sheeran hinted at a bitter fall-out with the former One Direction star in 2014 after singing about an ex-girlfriend cheating with one of his friends – widely believed to be Niall and Ellie Goulding

+8
View gallery

Sheeran and Goulding were linked to each other after they were spotted holding hands at the MTV VMA awards in August 2013 (pictured)

Sheeran has also posted throwbacks of himself with ex-girlfriend Goulding, R&B stars Usher and Bruno Mars, and a long haired Harry Styles at the height of his One Direction fame.

The singer dated Goulding briefly in 2013 after they were seen looking close at the MTV VMA’s, but the release of Don’t the following year put a fresh spin on the reason for their abrupt split.

Speaking to The Sun about its lyrical content at the time, he said: ‘I got over the anger the moment I wrote the song. It’s a song that came at the time that I needed to write. That’s the end of it.

‘I’m grateful I could get a song out of it, to be honest. I don’t feel it’s about anyone anymore, I’m not attached to that.

‘The moment you attach to someone to a song it becomes more difficult to sing every night.’

The track, which climbed to number eight on the UK singles chart, includes the lyrics: ‘I never saw him as a threat, ’til you ­disappeared with him to have sex,’ and ‘If I show courtesy and respect to someone, I expect to receive it’.

In 2023, nine years after its release, Goulding addressed claims of a fling on TikTok after a fan told her: ‘Can’t believe you cheated on Ed with Niall, but slay.’

Responding to the comment, she wrote: ‘False!!!! But also slay’.

+8
View gallery

Sheeran shared the photo of himself and Horan as part of an online promotional campaign for his latest single, Old Phone, posting numerous images from his phone archive

+8
View gallery

Sheeran has also posted throwbacks of himself with ex-girlfriend Goulding and R&B star Usher Bruno Mars

+8
View gallery

In 2023, nine years after the release of Don’t, Goulding finally addressed claims of a fling (Ellie and Niall pictured together in 2015)

Sheeran was inspired to write the new song when revisiting his old phone during the copyright lawsuit around his hit single Thinking Out Loud.

At the time, he denied  ripping off Marvin Gaye’s soul classic Let’s Get it On for the 2014 song, and in 2023 was cleared in court.

Explaining the new account, Sheeran wrote: ‘Put the sound on and have a listen. I got rid of my phone 2015, and moved onto email full time. I just turned my phone off December ’15 and that was it.

‘When I got sued, the judge ordered me to give up my old devices to the other sides lawyers, to look through messages, emails, voice notes, videos, etc, to see if there was anything on there to help their case. In the process, I switched on my old phone.

‘The first message was from my friend Jamal Edwards, who had recently passed away. The second was from my ex girlfriend who I hadn’t been in contact with for years. The third was a family member I haven’t spoken to in a decade. And so on.’

Goulding uploaded a TikTok video and responded to a fan who wrote ‘Can’t believe you cheated on Ed with Niall but slay’ with ‘False!!!! But also slay’

Sheeran discussed his ancient camera roll on a new Instagram account ahead of the release of his new single Old Phone on Thursday April 29 (Taylor Swift left, Harry Styles right)

+8
View gallery

His album of drunk throwback snaps sees Ed partying with Harry Styles, more often than not, Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Ellie Golding, Gigi Hadid (pictured) and Usher

Sheeran admitted looking through the phone made him emotional for a number of reasons, including discovering pictures of his friends who have passed away.

He wrote: ‘It felt like a time capsule, a time of life that I was in, and living at that time in 2015. Turning it on really spun me out, I found myself scrolling messages and conversations with people who are no longer here.

‘I found myself crying at messages to friends who are now dead, who I won’t get to speak to again. I found old photos of me with people I was so close to then, but we’ve lost touch since.’

He added: ‘The whole experience was such an emotional journey. I wrote the song Old Phone on my own at 2am whilst jet lagged in India finishing the album, and recorded it that morning.

‘It feels like a song that should’ve been on my debut album, but also a song I couldn’t have written until I experienced real life things happening to me.’