One Direction star Liam Payne's relationship with Cheryl and family life with 7-year-old son Bear

The pair initially crossed paths in 2008, when Liam first auditioned for the show but did not get through that year, and reconnected in 2015 after Cheryl's second marriage ended

Former One Direction star Liam Payne has died following a fall from the third floor of a hotel in Argentina, police say.

The star had recently attended a concert of his former bandmate Niall Horan, where he was seen enjoying the atmosphere with girlfriend Kate Cassidy.

Liam and Niall met when they were both just teenagers, auditioning for Simon Cowell's X Factor show, where they auditioned as solo artists before being put together in the super successful mega-boyband One Direction alongside Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson.

Read more: Former One Direction singer Liam Payne has died aged 31

Read more: Liam Payne opens up about Cheryl’s traumatic birth and their breakup for first time

The band was formed by X-Factor judges Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger and Louis Walsh, and in the years following his initial ascent to stardom, he connected romantically with another star connected to the show - Cheryl Tweedy.

The pair initially crossed paths in 2008, when Liam first auditioned for the show but did not get through that year.

They met again in 2010 when Liam was 16 and re-auditioning for the show. When faced with the judges, Cheryl said: "You've definitely got it. Whatever it is, you've got it. And your voice is really powerful."

In the years following the 2010 X Factor series, One Direction was the biggest boyband of the decade, and Liam was constantly on tour and in the studio.

Meanwhile, Cheryl meets second husband Jean-Bernard Fernadez-Versini and married him just two months later in a private beach wedding in Mustique.

Their marriage ended in 2015, divorcing officially in 2016. Liam and Cheryl then reconnected when he returned to the X Factor to perform with One Direction.

Despite their ten-year age gap, the couple's relationship quickly flourished, appearing on red carpets together looking loved-up.

The first public announcement of their relationship came in March 2016, when Liam shared his love for Cheryl on International Women's Day.

He uploaded an Instagram post captioned: "Happy #internationalwomensday to my favourite woman in the world. Hope I make you as happy as u make me."

They then went red-carpet official with an appearance at the Global Gift Gala in Paris, and later the Cannes Film Festival.

In 2017, they announced the arrival of their son named Bear, who is now 7-years-old.

Announcing the happy news, Cheryl posted a picture on Instagram of Liam cradling their little one, who came into the world at 7lb 9oz.

She captioned the snap: "On Wednesday Liam and I became parents to an incredibly beautiful, healthy baby boy looking like a dream."

The then-couple took some time to decide on their child's name. A source revealed: "Cheryl and Liam wanted to get to know [their son] before they decided on the name."

"They didn't have the name Bear before the birth. But they'd been thinking of a name since meeting him and they just felt it suited him."

By the summer of 2018, they had decided to part ways, and released a statement confirming their break-up.

They posted a joint social media statement that read: "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."

The couple committed to co-parenting their son. Both kept their son's life private for the most part.

In 2018, Liam shared that he had always wanted to be a young father, as he welcomed his son at 23.

“I always wanted to be a young dad, but I didn’t really expect that I’d ever be in this place,” he told People.

“I had my son at a young age, and you think it will be a magical thing, that you’re going to grow up one day into the person you’re supposed to be,” he explained.

“But it took a lot to find my footing. I figured, Dad takes care of everyone, that’s what he does, so my thing was to cook.”

He noted that his son was already growing up “so quickly.”

“He was already huge when he was born. I walked past a baby in the park and was like, ‘Mine was never that small!’ He was always massive."

“I look at him, like, ‘Where’s my little baby gone already?’”

In 2022, Liam said that he gets to spend two days a week with his son.

“I see him two times a week, three times a week sometimes,” he told People.

“And I make sure when I see him, he has 100 percent of my time."

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