One Direction’s Liam Payne splits from partner Cheryl Cole after two-and-a-half years

English singer Liam Payne has announced that he has separated from Cheryl, his partner of two-and-a-half years. The couple has a one-year-old son named Bear who was born in March 2017 as both of them made the individual announcements on Twitter earlier on Monday. 

According to media reports, the 24-year-old One Direction singer said it was a tough decision to make but everybody should also respect Bear’s privacy as they navigate through the process. Liam and Cheryl started dating in 2016 after the 35-year-old English singer broke it off with French restaurateur Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini. More famously, Cheryl is the ex-wife of former English footballer Ashley Cole, before she filed for divorce in February 2010, after reports of him cheating on her with other women surfaced. 

Liam Payne shot to fame with the English boy band One Direction which also included Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan. The band, however, announced took a brief hiatus in 2016, after Zayn Malik split in 2015, and announced a subsequent split announcing their individual careers. On the other hand, Cheryl Cole shot to fame with the girls group Girls Aloud but then simultaneously also launched her solo career in 2009, and has released four albums since then.