Cheryl has been open about her battle with anxiety and self-confidence, and it seems her ex Liam Payne was there to support her as she struggled with her mental health

Cheryl and her ex, Liam Payne, who sadly passed away last month at the age of 31, had been co-parenting their son Bear since their split in 2018. Despite their breakup, they both spoke candidly over time about the difficult choices they made together for the sake of their child.

The former Girls Aloud singer, now 41, has openly discussed her struggles with self-esteem and anxiety during her time in the spotlight, both as part of a top UK girl band and as a judge on The X Factor. In a heartfelt admission to Radio 1’s Life Hacks, Cheryl revealed the harsh way she used to speak to herself: “I would talk to myself so nastily. ‘You silly cow. You stupid b****.’ No one could make me feel worse about myself than I did, and that was a massive problem.”

She also shared how she felt inside despite putting on a brave face: “I would walk out to a wall of paparazzi and put on a smile, but inside, I was dying.”

Her struggle intensified after Bear’s birth in 2017, leading to a pivotal moment where she realized she couldn’t continue in the same manner while raising her son.

Liam shares son Bear with Cheryl (Image: Instagram)

Cheryl opened up about her personal battles: “I struggled for so many years with anxiety and in my own head. I didn’t want that to be happening when I was trying to focus on raising a child,” reports the Mirror.

Seeking help, she worked with a therapist and embraced cognitive behavioural therapy to tackle “years of self-loathing”. She shared how the process helped her to “actively undo” the negative thought patterns she had become used to.

“It felt like my responsibilities shifted and my priorities changed and I needed to be settled in my own head to be able to give him the best that I could possibly give him,” Cheryl explained.

The Girls Aloud star’s self-esteem took hits from several past relationships. She reportedly found herself reportedly cheated on and deceived. Her first marriage to Ashley Cole began to fall apart amid rumours he was unfaithful with hairdresser Aimee Walton.

The Geordie superstar chose to try again, and this resolve inspired one of her hit singles, Fight For This Love. Despite her attempts, by 2010, the marriage ended in divorce after more infidelity claims surfaced, with Cheryl citing ‘unreasonable behaviour’.

Back in the summer season of July 2014, Cheryl caught her fans off-guard when she tied the knot with her second husband, the French restaurant owner Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini, at a private ceremony. However, the marital bliss wasn’t meant to last; by 2016, Cheryl had to face the divorce courts again, this time alleging that Jean-Bernard’s ‘unreasonable behaviour’ was behind her stress-induced weight loss.

The Fight For This Love hitmaker, 37, has been publicly single since she split from her late ex Liam Payne, who is the father of her son Bear (Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Uni)
Despite rumors, Jean-Bernard has brushed off any suggestions of infidelity after Cheryl’s insistance that Payne stood as her only faithful companion. There’s no bitterness lingering between Cheryl and Jean-Bernard though, even after they broke up.

In her sit-down with The Sunday Times’ Style magazine in 2018, Cheryl opened up to Decca Aitkenhead claiming Liam was ‘the only man who has ever been faithful to her’. After two and a half years together, the couple went their separate ways, but made a pledge to stay tight-knit for their son’s sake.

They declared: “We 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.”

In 2022, Liam opened up about the precious moments he spent with his son. He revealed: “I see him two times a week, three times a week sometimes. And I make sure when I see him, he has 100 percent of my time. I make sure that I’m not on my phone or d***ing around somewhere else. So, I like to give him those moments and it’s important, he needs that in his life, he needs his dad in his life, and I’m happy he looks at me like a superhero, and I’m hoping to keep it that way.”

Liam Payne sadly died in October (Image: Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
After Liam tragically passed away on October 16, falling from the third floor of a boutique hotel in Argentina, Cheryl shared a touching tribute.

She wrote: “Liam was not only a pop star and a celebrity, he was a son, a brother, an uncle, a dear friend and a father to our seven-year-old son. A son that now has to face the reality of never seeing his father again.”