Liam Payne and Cheryl Cole's Relationship Timeline

Liam Payne, who died on Oct. 16, shared his 7-year-old son, Bear, with his ex, singer Cheryl Cole.

The former couple welcomed their child in March 2017, and had dated for two years before they called it quits in July 2018.

Payne, a singer and former member of One Direction, died after falling from a balcony on the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was 31.

Read on to learn about Liam Payne and Cheryl Cole's past relationship.

In 2008, Payne and Cole met when Payne auditioned for "The X Factor" at 14 years old. At the time, Cole was acting as a judge on the program alongside Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh.

For his audition, Payne sang a rendition of “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra. Though Cowell wasn't completely sold by Payne's performance, Cole said she adored the young singer and voted him through to the next round.

"I like you. I think you're really cute," she told him.

Later in a separate interview on the show, Payne said he liked Cole's compliment that she gave him.

"Cheryl thought that I was cute, which was a great compliment," he said.

While he was later cut from the competition by Powell, Payne returned to the singing competition in 2010 and said he understood why he was sent home.

"I was really young and I wasn't ready and now I'm 16 and I'm back to give it another shot," he said on stage before singing "Cry Me a River" by Michael Bublé.

During that season, Cole was eventually grouped together with fellow “X Factor” contestants Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik, and formed One Direction.

In 2016, Cole split from her second husband, Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini. As the pair called it quits, rumors started to swirl that Payne and Cole were seeing each other.

The couple made their red carpet debut in May 2016 while they attended the Global Gift Gala in Paris.

At the event, Cole was honored with the Global Gift Philanthropist Award.

"So proud of her tonight such a special award #GlobalGiftGala," Payne captioned a photo of them together at the gala on X.

In March 2017, Payne and Cole announced on Instagram that they had welcomed their son, Bear, according to People.

While appearing on “The Late Late Show with James Corden” in September 2017, Payne explained why they chose the name Bear.

The singer said as a newborn, his son made a rumbling noise in his sleep, which led to him being assessed by specialists. Finally, one doctor said, “There’s nothing wrong with him. He just likes to make a lot of noise.”

“So he just became Bear,” Payne told host James Corden.

In a July 2018 interview with People, Payne shared that he likes to play his new music for Bear.

“For me, I love making great music for my fans. But when you make something that your son loves, it’s the best thing ever," he shared.

After two years of dating, Payne announced in a July 2018 post on X that he and Cole had broken up.

"Cheryl and I are sad to announce that we are going our separate ways. It’s been a tough decision for us to make," Payne wrote. "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."

Cole also echoed a similar statement on the platform.

"We are sad to announce that we are going our separate ways. It’s been a tough decision for us to make," she wrote. "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.

Though the pair had gone their separate ways, they seemed to maintain a good co-parenting relationship. In 2020, Payne gave Cole a shoutout on Bear's third birthday and he thanked the "Fight for This Love" singer for showing their son "all the love in the world."

Joyann Jeffrey

Joyann Jeffrey is a trending news reporter based in New York City