Liam Payne's chilling fear for son Bear as he reflected on fatherhood

The late One Direction member previously opened up about fatherhood after welcoming his only child, son Bear, with his former girlfriend Cheryl Cole back in March 2017

Liam Payne became a father for the first time in March 2017 when he welcomed his son Bear with former girlfriend Cheryl Cole.

The couple began dating the year before and remained together until 2018, when they started co-parenting their child together.

The parents have primarily kept their son away from the limelight, with Liam rarely posting images of them on his social media.

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

Read more: Liam Payne’s health battle and recovery: Difficult childhood illness, alcoholism and ADHD diagnosis

His last post with Bear was back in March, which featured his son looking at a billboard of his dad. The caption read: “I want to be on a billboard one day daddy”.

Liam had opened up about fatherhood in the past. After welcoming Bear, he told Entertainment Tonight back in 2017: “The best part about being a dad is when they look at you.

“They don’t just look at you, they look into your soul. They look right through you.”

He added: “He’s like mini-me and he has [Cheryl’s] eyes. He’s smashed it on the eye front. I love him.”

The One Direction member was very honest when sharing his biggest fear for his son.

He said: “That he might grow up to be like me. You don’t understand, that’s a pretty scary thought.

“I’ve been doing this since I was 14 years old. I started on X Factor when I was 14. I’m turning 24 now, it’s been nearly 10 years.

“That’s the thing. You can’t really worry about anything because it always works out in the end. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here right now, right?”

Liam was always very complimentary about Bear’s mum Cheryl. In a 2022 podcast, he stated that she was the “best mum in the world” and that he “couldn't ask for someone better”.

The Polaroid singer wanted to become a young father and was 23 years old when Bear was born.

In 2018, he said: “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.”

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