Cheryl called Liam Payne 'only man who never cheated on her' - why she always protected him

called the “only man who never cheated on her”, and always protected even after they parted ways.

The couple were first linked in 2016, shortly after Cheryl’s shock divorce from Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini, and in 2017, they welcomed their first child, son Bear. However, less than a year later Cheryl and sadly announced they had split, but the couple remained committed to speaking positively about each other for the sake of their son.

Hinting at her previous relationship woes, including her ex-husband Ashley Cole cheating on her repeatedly, Cheryl said in an interview in 2018 that Liam was the only partner who has ever been faithful. Speaking to The Sunday Times’ Style magazine, she stated that the former star “is the only man who has ever been faithful”. And the Fight for This Love hitmaker was unfazed by her amicable split with Liam, as she said she had found the “man of her dreams” - their son Bear.

“I'm not looking for anything any more. I'm whole. I've got the man of my dreams,” Cheryl gushed. When news of their split emerged, many speculated Liam had cheated, but the Strip That Down hitmaker dismissed the rumours, and bravely confessed they had split because he struggled with fatherhood.

The singer became a dad for the first time at the age of 23, and he said the pressure of fatherhood “messed me up”. Speaking on the Ant Middleton and Liam Payne: Straight Talking documentary in 2019, he said becoming a dad at such a young age was a “difficult thing”, and said he had begun to overthink his responsibilities. “And I think I built fatherhood up so much in my head that it kind of messed me up to start with. I started in a bad place with it,” he continued.

“I think it spooked me out early on, and I was just worried I would not be enough to look after the both of them,” Liam added. He later admitted that he “didn’t understand” what new mum Cheryl was going through, as the Girls Aloud singer suffered a serious haemorrhage following Bear’s birth, and took time away from the spotlight to focus on her new baby. Despite their split, Liam was full of praise for his former girlfriend, and said she was “the best mum in the ”.

“I couldn't ask for someone better,” he said on Logan Paul's podcast Impulsive. “The relationship we have now as friends has only grown more.” Cheryl echoed her ex’s sentiments, and told the Daily Mail in 2019 that she and Liam are successfully co-parenting Bear, and she couldn’t be happier about the positive impact it was having on their son.

“There's no animosity whatsoever. We are learning all the time. And it's good, it's healthy. We're just like any other couple that have gone through this, but we have a few more eyes watching us...just a few,” she added. Cheryl has maintained a dignified silence about Liam in recent months, which many One Direction fans speculated was her protecting her ex for the sake of their son Bear.

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