Cheryl Cole Shares Photo of Liam Payne and Son After Singer’s Death
Liam Payne’s Ex Cheryl Cole Slams “Abhorrentâ Coverage of Singerâs Death
Cheryl Cole is sharing memories of late ex Liam Payne.
Two days after the One Direction alumâs tragic death at 31, the former X Factor judge shared a previously-unseen photo of Liam with their only child, Bear, on Instagram Oct. 18.
In the black-and-white image, taken when Bear, now 7, was a baby, a shirtless Liam is seen laying in bed with his hand resting next to his young son. He stares toward the baby, whose face is turned away from the camera.
Along with the heartbreaking pic, the âFight For This Loveâ singer addressed the âabhorrent reports and media exploitationâ surrounding her former partnerâs Oct. 16 sudden passing.
âI am begging you to consider what use some of these reports are serving, other than to cause further harm to everyone left behind picking up the pieces,â Cheryl wrote. âBefore you leave comments or make videos, ask yourself if you would like your own child or family to read them.â
Over the years, the former coupleâwho dated from 2016 to 2018âhave shared occasional glimpses of their 7-year-old, though theyâve taken care to shield him from public view.
âI want Bear to have a normal childhood,â Cheryl, 41, told Vogue UK in November 2023. âI donât want people recognizing him on the street.â
Instagram/Cheryl Cole
Liam also previously spoke about how he and the Girls Aloud member considered their own experiences with stardom when raising their son.
âFor both of us,â he told Access Hollywood in 2020, âwe think thereâs beauty to this side of being famous and being in this position, and doing something that you love.â
At the same time, Liamâwho rose to fame at 17 as a member of the boy bandâalso reflected on the downfalls of being a celebrity.
âI think you worry for that in your child as well,â he went on, ânow that youâre very close to something and youâve experienced it and the ways it affected you.â
For a look back at Liam and Cherylâs time together, keep reading.
Ken McKay/Talkback Thames/Shutterstock; Danny Martindale/FilmMagic
2008: The First Meeting
The story of Liam Payne and Cheryl Cole’s romance began when he was just 14 and auditioning for what he’d call “one of the biggest music shows in the world.” While his stab at solo stardom ended when he was cut during The X Factor’s Judges’ Houses round, the moment was certainly the start of something beautiful.Â
“Let’s address the elephant in the room,” he cracked when revisiting the experience for Esquire’s “I Hate Watching Myself” series in 2020, “the future mother of my son is sat in that chair.”
Though he and the 10-years-his-senior Girls Aloud musician (who dubbed him “really cute” following his performance) wouldn’t kick off their romance for nearly a decade, he joked of the audition, “This is now an episode of How I Met Your Mother, so that’s enough of that I think.”
Dave Hogan/Getty Images
2010: Heading in a New Direction
When Payne returned to The X Factor stage at age 16, his version of Michael BublĂ©’s “Cry Me a River” impressed Simon Cowell, who delivered a standing ovation, and Cole. “You’ve definitely got it,” she declared. “Whatever it is, you got it.”
Though it was not enough to propel him past the boot camp stage, judge Nicole Scherzinger floated the idea of pairing Payne with fellow auditioners Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson.
“They’re just too talented to get rid of,” she said in never-before-seen footage released in 2022. “Theyâve got just the right look and the right charisma onstage. I think theyâll be really great in a boy band together. They’re like little stars. You canât get rid of little stars, you know? So you put them all together.”
It turned out pretty okay.Â
Jeff Kravitz/AMA2015/FilmMagic; Mike Marsland/WireImage
December 2015: Back to the Stage
Five albums, seven American Music Awards and five years as the biggest boy band on the planet later, One Direction went home again, marking their final performance before their hiatus at the 2015 X Factor finale.Â
Payne sang “History” and “Infinity” with his crew and shared a hug with Cole.Â
Mark Robert Milan/GC Images
January 2016: On the Market
Citing irreconcilable differences, musician Cole filed to end her second marriage to Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini, the French restauranteur she met at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014 and married three months later.Â
Mark Milan/GC Images
March 2016: A Soft Launch
Days after Payne sparked speculation that he was seeing Cole (briefly changing his Instagram profile picture to a photo of the two of them before reverting to a solo snap), they visited London’s Salmontini restarant on March 9, 2016.
Mark Robert Milan/GC Images
April 2016: Cheryl Speaks Out
As rumors began cooking that Cole had cheated on her former husband with the musician, she clapped back on X (then Twitter).Â
“If anybody believes the s–t they’re reading today,” she wrote in the April 16, 2016 post, “you really don’t know me at all.”
Kristy Sparow/Getty Images
May 2016: Making It Official
Turns out it was Cole’s talent and giving heart that made her beautiful to Payne. Joining the Girls Aloud musician at the Global Gift Gala in Paris on May 9, 2019 to watch her receive the Global Gift Philanthropist Award, he wrote on X, alongside several kiss emojis, “So proud of her tonight.”
David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images
November 2016: A Cub on the Way
Mum was the word when the duo worked the carpet at the St James Christmas Carol Concert in London on Nov. 29, 2016, but Cole allowed her figure-hugging dress do the talking.Â
Though the pair never addressed her pregnancy, when Payne was asked by fans on social media how he was doing that December, he responded, “The happiest I could be.”Â
David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Universal Music
March 2017: Bear Joins the Pack
A month after Cole sorta kinda confirmed her pregnancy with a maternity shoot, the couple announced on social media that their pack had grown.Â
“My close friends and family know there are very few times when I’m left speechless… wow!” he wrote on Instagram. “I’m incredibly happy to welcome our new baby boy into the world, it’s a moment that I will never forget for the rest of my life and my favourite memory I have so far.”
Staring at 7-pound, 9-ounce Bear Grey, “I’m completely in awe of his incredible mother and how she has been the whole way through this,” he added, “she’s really made my dreams come true.”
Though he later admitted he fought for a more “traditional” name for his cub, “The reason she chose Bear was because Bear is a name that when you leave a room, you won’t forget,” he explained during a May 2017 Total Access radio interview. “And I like that.”Â
Karwai Tang/WireImage
July 2018: Different Directions
By May 2017, Payne had taken to calling Cole his “wife,” sharing how he never predicted the story of his life would take him here.Â
“Obviously I have the most beautiful girlfriend in the world, and she’s absolutely amazing,” he told the U.K.’s Rollacoaster magazine. “She’s been my dream girl since I was younger. She’s so ace.”
But by the following summer, their brief romance had folded.Â
“Cheryl and I are sad to announce that we are going our separate ways,” he wrote in an X missive July 1, 2018. “It’s been a tough decision for us to make. We still have so much love for each other as a family. Bear is our world and we ask that you respect his privacy as we navigate our way through this together.”Â
Cole responded with a near-identical message.Â
As for the rumors her mom came between them, “I can assure you she has absolutely nothing to do with any of it,” she shared on X. I am a grown woman who is capable of dealing with my own life. She is a soft and kind woman who doesn’t deserve to be dragged into something that has nothing whatsoever to do with her.”
Instead their issues were of the fairly common variety.Â
“You know, we have our struggles,” he confessed to ES magazine months earlier. “I’m not gonna sit here and say that everything’s absolutely fine and dandy, because of course you go through different things, and that’s what a relationship is.”
Venturelli/WireImage
April 2019: Crushing It As Co-Parents
Though their romance was short-lived, Payne and Cole proved they were headed in the right direction when it came to their son.Â
“Liam is a great dad. He’s much softer than me,” Cole said in an April 2019 interview with The Telegraph. “But it is what it is, and I’m OK about it. When you have a baby, you are not consumed with just thinking about yourself. It’s your responsibility to keep things settled and happy, so you make the best of everything. And we have.”
Years later, Payne was signing the same tune when appearing on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast in 2022.
“We broke up for a reason and now, she gives me full autonomy of my own life to be able to go and do what I do and at the same time I know he’s been taken care of because he’s all she cares about,” he gushed of his former girlfriend. “You couldn’t ask for more.”
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