‘Cheryl and Liam crisis as 10-year gap takes a toll’
CHERYL is said to have held ‘crisis talks’ with Liam Payne in an effort to save their relationship.
The singer, who gave birth to the former One Direction heart-throb’s son Bear in March, is believed to have discovered that the ten-year age gap between them is a problem.
‘They haven’t split but they have addressed the fact that they have work to do on their relationship and both want to work things out,’ a source told the Sun On Sunday.
‘There’s a big age gap. If they didn’t have Bear then they would have most likely split up by now.’
Payne, 24, made a special effort to spend Valentine’s Day with Cheryl, 34, as the couple work through their differences, the insider confided.
The constant travelling required as he pursues his solo pop career is thought to be taking a toll. ‘She knew he would be away a lot for work but the reality is tough,’ the source said.
‘They love their son and they do care for each other so it’s now a matter of seeing if there’s a final way forward to try and make it work.’
The pair, dubbed Chiam when they began dating in 2016, were last spotted out in public together in November.
They became an unlikely item after Cheryl split from her second husband, French restaurateur Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini, at the end of 2015.
The couple had first met five years earlier when a young Liam auditioned for The X Factor while Cheryl was a judge on the panel.
Payne said last May that the ex-Girls Aloud star had been caring for Bear by herself ‘because she wants to know what it feels like when I’m not there’.
He added: ‘She knows I’m going on tour, so obviously she’s got a lot to deal with, which is hard.’
With the pair apparently at odds, Payne was engrossed in conflict of another kind on Saturday night. He was at Manchester Arena to see boxer George Groves beat Chris Eubank Jr.
Author: Tom Stichbury
