Cheryl Cole and Liam Payne in Shock Split
Former Girls Aloud and X-Factor star, Cheryl, has announced via her Twitter page that her two-and-a-half-year romance with One Direction singer Liam Payne has come to an end. The couple, who have a son, Bear, together have almost 40million Twitter followers between them and both chose the social media site to make almost identical announcements that they had split.
Cheryl’s statement said that the couple had decided to “go our separate ways” and that it had been “a tough decision for us to make”. Liam’s similar Twitter offering added “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.
We are sad to announce that we are going our separate ways. 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.
— Cheryl (@CherylOfficial) July 1, 2018
The couple famously met in 2008 when Liam auditioned for the X-Factor, he was 14 and she was ten years his senior. Liam failed to impress in the Judges Houses round of the competition that year but returned in 2010 when he was chosen to join the newly-formed group One Direction. The group went on to dominate the charts worldwide until they agreed to take a break and pursue solo projects in January 2016.
Cheryl and I are sad to announce that we are going our separate ways. 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.
— Liam (@LiamPayne) July 1, 2018
Cheryl, whose maiden name is Tweedy, married footballer Ashley Cole in 2006, finally splitting in 2010 amongst allegations of him cheating on her. She met French restaurateur Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini at Cannes Film Festival in 2014, the couple married after a 3-month whirlwind romance but split in January 2016 when Cheryl announced that she wanted to be know solely by her first name to avoid confusion.
The couple welcomed their baby boy, named Bear, in March 2017. Cheryl announced the birth on Mother’s Day saying “Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers around the world. A day that now has a different meaning to me forever”. He cracks in their relationship began to show shortly after baby Bear’s birth with Liam stating on October 2017 that he was not planning to spend much time with either Cheryl or his baby son over Christmas due to work commitments. In March 2018, Liam also commented that the pair were experiencing “struggles” in response to tabloid speculation about their relationship.
So another short-lived celebrity romance bites the dust, let’s hope that their Twitter declaration that they “still have so much love for each other as a family” is true and that they continue to work things out amicably for the sake of their little boy.