It’s over. Liam Payne and Cheryl Cole announced their split on Sunday, July 1, after more than two years together.
“Cheryl and I are sad to announce that we are going our separate ways,” the former One Direction singer, 24, wrote in a tweet on Sunday. “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.”
Cheryl and I 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.
— Liam (@LiamPayne) July 1, 2018
Cole, 34, who gave birth to the couple’s son, Bear, in March 2017, shared an almost-identical statement on Twitter.
The British singers, who started dating in 2015 after first meeting when he auditioned for The X Factor in 2008, have battled rumors of infidelity and breakups in recent months.
The “Strip That Down” crooner addressed those split reports in March, admitting that they had their ups and downs, like most couples.
“The funniest thing was a week before we were getting married. The next week we’re splitting up,” Payne said in a cover story for London’s ES Magazine. “And the thing for me is, I just like to think we’re somewhere in the middle. You know, we have our struggles — like, of course I’m not gonna sit here and say that everything’s absolutely fine and dandy, because of course you go through different things, and that’s what a relationship is. But we go through them together as a family and that’s the most important thing for me.”
Cole also shut down cheating rumors that same month, taking to Instagram to shut down a suggestion that her boyfriend had acted inappropriately with one of his dancers.
“I usually don’t bother myself to respond to stupid articles. But in my silence they hold the pen,” Cole tweeted on March 30. “This is a stupid article, clutching at very small straws. But I can’t ignore this story involving an innocent dancer colleague of Liam’s who has a fiancé, and dragging them into this desperate attempt to try to cause problems between Liam and I. Nor do I understand the daily onslaught of stories.”
