Ed Sheeran won his copyright case on Thursday (May 4) and he was left in tears after the grueling trial - which resulted in him missing his grandmother's funeral - came to an end.
The 32-year-old singer-songwriter was in court after being accused of copying Marvin Gaye's hit song 'Let's Get It On' in his 2015 track 'Thinking Out Loud'.
The British singer was sued by Kathy Griffin, the daughter of Ed Townsend who co-wrote the 70's hit with Gaye. She was seeking $100 million in restitution.
Last night, a jury ruled in favor of Sheeran and cleared him alongside his co-writer Amy Wadge of any wrongdoing, meaning the lawsuit filed in 2017 was over.
Following the conclusion of the trial, Sheeran gave a lengthy statement outside of the courtroom and his co-writer has now revealed that he let out his emotions to her.
"It was just the most unbelievable relief and like seven years of stress just leaving my body," Wadge told CNN following Thursday's verdict. She went on to share that she and Sheeran "had a few tears."
Sheeran and Wadge are long-time friends and colleagues. Together, they wrote the 2010 album, Songs I Wrote With Amy.
During his statement after the conclusion of the trial, Sheeran said: "I'm obviously very happy with the outcome of the case, and it looks like I'm not having to retire from my day job after all, but - at the same time - I'm unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all."
Sheeran referred to his claim that he would retire from music if the courts found that he had copied the 70's hit.
Sheeran went on: "We've spent the last eight years talking about two songs with dramatically different lyrics, melodies, and four chords which are also different and used by songwriters every day all over the world. These chords are common building blocks that were used to create music long before 'Let's Get It On' was written and will be used to make music long after we are all gone."
He added: "If the jury had decided this matter the other way, we might as well say goodbye to the creative freedom of songwriters. We need to be able to write our original music and engage with independent creation without worrying at every step of the way that such creativity will be wrongly called into question."
Sheeran thanked Wadge in his speech and defiantly stated: "I'm just a guy with a guitar, who loves writing music for people to enjoy. I am not and never will allow myself to be a piggy bank for anyone to shake."
