Liam Payne and Cheryl faced daunting parenting decision after birth of son Bear

Liam Payne and ex-wife Cheryl faced a huge parenting decision with their son.

The couple raised Bear together before their split back in 2018. In a devastating incident, the ex-X Factor star tragically lost his life on 16 October after a tragic fall from the third storey of hotel in Argentina.

Details regarding the circumstances that led to his untimely death remain shrouded in mystery. Left to cherish his memory are his loved ones and Bear, his seven year old child fathered with Cheryl in 2017.

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At 23 years of age, Liam embraced fatherhood. His separation with Cheryl was publicly acknowledged a year subsequent to the pair announcing the arrival of their boy, reports the Mirror. On 25 March 2017, Cheryl took to Instagram to announce the birth of her and Liam’s little one, sharing an image capturing Liam cradling the newborn.

Her caption read: “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 went on to write: “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.”

Before settling on Bear for their son, the duo grappled with choosing between a traditional or a contemporary first name for him. In May 2017, Liam opened up to Total Access about the tiff over baby names: “It was like an internal battle. I wanted a more traditional name and she wanted a name that was more unusual.

“And the reason she chose Bear in the end was because Bear is a name that when you leave a room, you won’t forget. And I like that. When I look at him, he’s just Bear.” Liam spilled the beans further: “At first, I wasn’t really having it. I was like, ‘I’m not really sure. I don’t really understand’. Now, I look at him and he’s Bear. You become your name as you get older anyway.”

Later on, Liam recounted to James Corden how even one of the midwives called his son ‘Bear’ right in the delivery room, locking in the moniker. On The Late Late Show with James Corden, he shared: “He had this thing where if they don’t have a good cry, they get fluid in their lungs, which is quite serious, so he was like going ‘grrrr’. I had like 10 doctors come in the room, and in the end, the guy was just like, ‘Dude, I’m not being funny. There’s nothing wrong with him. He just likes to make a lot of noise.’ And that’s carried on ever since, so he just became Bear..”

Aware of the intense public eye, Cheryl and Liam decided against sharing snaps of Bear’s face. Yet, in 2020, the former One D heartthrob let slip that his little lad is pretty much his mini-me. “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!”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk