Cheryl spoke about her and Liam Payne's son Bear in a new TV interview filmed before the singer's death.
41-year-old Cheryl - who welcomed Bear with the late One Direction singer in 2017 - appeared in a TV interview for the first time since Liam died. The One Direction star died on October 16 after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.
Paying tribute to Liam, Cheryl said: "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."
READ MORE: Inside Liam Payne's tragic death – CCTV footage, final texts and hotel probe
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It's not yet known if Cheryl will attend her ex's funeral in Wolverhampton this week, and if she does, whether she will take Bear. Liam tragically died in Argentina on October 16 after falling from his hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, leading to three individuals being charged in relation to his death.
Cheryl, who split from Liam in 2018, has stayed away from the spotlight since her tribute to Liam but will appear on TV screens at the weekend. Cheryl and her Girls Aloud pals Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh sat down for an interview with ITV's Ben Shepherd.
It was shot ahead of the premiere of The Girls Aloud Show: Live at The O2, London. The gig coincided with what would have been their late bandmate Sarah Harding's 43rd birthday.
The band spoke about the reunion tour, which included 30 performances across the UK and Ireland. Nicola said: "The music industry is such a young place, that when you're that young and you're shrouded in that ageism you just think we could never possibly do that at that age,"
Cheryl pointed out "how fortunate" she and her three remaining bandmates are to reunite 22 years on from first being formed on Popstars: The Rivals. The former X Factor judge then mentioned Bear when admitting she, Kimberly and Nadine "became a bit cooler" with their kids as they joined them on tour earlier this year.
Liam and Cheryl both discussed the origin of their son's unique name. On RuPaul's What's The Tee podcast in 2019, Cheryl disclosed that she didn't have a name in mind right after his birth. She said a midwife started calling him by the nickname in the hospital.
Cheryl explained: "When I was in the hospital, he used to make these noises. We had specialists coming in to see what was going on with his breathing like ... quite cute but, yeah, worrisome. Nothing wrong [though], just him. The midwife would come in every day and go 'how's the little bear? ' [...] I didn't have the name prior..." She also mentioned: "I couldn't get the nickname Bear out of my mind. We toyed with other one but I didn't want him to be the third such and such in his class. I wanted him to have a unique name."
Liam spoke about the origins of his son's name during a 2017 appearance on the Late Late Show with James Corden, telling the host that "one of the midwives said it" after hearing the baby makingnoises. He said how a doctor assured him there was "nothing wrong" and that Bear simply liked to "make a lot of noise". Liam added: "And that's carried on ever since, so he just became Bear."
Earlier that year, Liam told Total Access said about naming Bear: "It was like an internal battle. I wanted a more traditional name and [Cheryl] 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."
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