Liam Payne's age when he welcomed son Bear - and heartbreaking final words about him

Liam Payne and Cheryl fell in love almost a decade after meeting on The X Factor and went on to welcome a son called Bear in 2017, a year before announcing their split

Late One Direction star Liam Payne was a proud father to seven-year-old Bear.

The former X Factor star devastatingly died after plunging from the third floor of a boutique hotel in Argentina last month. His funeral is set to take place in the coming days and will likely be a private celebration for family and friends, following hundreds of fan vigils across the world over recent weeks.

Liam is survived by his loved ones and son Bear, whom he welcomed with ex Cheryl Tweedy back in 2017, a year before they split. The singer was 23 years old when he became a dad and 31 when he tragically died. Cheryl, who was 10 years his senior, was 33 when she became a mum to their 'healthy baby boy'.

On March 25, 2017, Cheryl posted the news of her and Liam's child on Instagram with a picture of the 1D star holding the baby. She wrote: "On Wednesday 22nd March Liam and I became parents to an incredibly beautiful, healthy baby boy, weighing 7lb 9 and looking like a dream. Although he still doesn't have a name he is already stealing hearts."

She continued: "We are all madly in love and overwhelmingly happy with our little arrival. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers around the world. A day that now has a different meaning to me forever."

At an event that year, Liam shared how they took "a million pictures" of the youngster, but decided against posting them online. He said: "[Cheryl] has her rest time bonding with Bear at the start. She's an incredible, a natural mum. We take a million pictures of Bear but we want him to be able to decide what he wants to share when he's older."

It's understood Bear looks strikingly like his dad, as detailed by Liam in a 2020 interview with People magazine. Liam shared: "He looks exactly like me, which is very strange. When family members see baby pictures of me now, they say, 'Oh wow, Bear looks really great there!'"

In a 2023 interview with British Vogue, Cheryl expressed her longing for Bear to have a normal childhood. She said: "I don't want people recognising him on the street. But he's twigged that I'm famous. The other day he said, 'How lucky am I to have famous parents?' I said, 'It doesn't matter'. He goes: "Yeah. But it's pretty cool'."

Liam revealed they had taken steps to protect Bear from the darker aspects of fame in 2021. He told Stephen Bartlett on The Diary Of A CEO podcast: "Obviously, we protected his identity to start off with, and that's not being pretentious or anything other than the fact that I want to give him a chance to be Bear first before he has to be, 'Oh, your mum and dad are so and so' you know. And I made my choice to be where I was at 14 [or] 15, so I figure he can make his own choice then too."

Earlier this year, in August, Liam made a rare comment about his son while celebrating his 31st birthday. He told his followers in an Instagram video: "I didn't get any dad socks yet though. I'm going to speak to my son in a little bit which I'm really excited about. Bless him. He's getting so big now. He's a big boy and he looks like a mini me. As if we needed any more me in the world."

Following Liam's heartbreaking death, Cheryl took to Instagram to post an unseen picture of him with Bear as she made an emotional statement. The Girls Aloud star begged for some kindness and respect to be shown for Liam as she highlighted the harsh reality that both she and their son now face.

Her post read in full: "As I try to navigate this earth-shattering event and work through my own grief at this indescribably painful time, I'd like to kindly remind everyone that we have lost a human being. Liam was not only a pop star and celebrity, he was a son, a brother, an uncle, a dear friend and a father to our 7 year old son.

"A son that now has to face the reality of never seeing his father again. What is troubling my spirit the most is that one day Bear will have access to the abhorrent reports and media exploitation we have seen in the past two days. It is breaking my heart further that I cannot protect him from that in his future."

She added: "I am begging you to consider what use some of these reports are serving, other than to cause further harm to everyone left behind picking up the pieces. Before you leave comments or make videos, ask yourself if you would like your own child or family to read them. Please give Liam the little dignity he has left in the wake of his death to rest in some peace at last. Thank you, Cheryl."