Liam Payne reportedly knew the first time meeting ex Cheryl was the "elephant in the room".
The Strip That Down singer tragically died last month after falling from his third floor balcony at the luxurious CasaSur hotel in the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires. Following his death, several of the people he worked with came out to share their sorrow at Liam's sudden passing at the age of 31.
However, one of the most shocked stars to learn of his passing was Girls Aloud star Cheryl. The One Direction legend had dated Cheryl back in 2017, and welcomed their beautiful baby boy Bear into the world during that time, before calling the relationship quits.
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This, however, was not the first time that they had met, as back in 2008, the couple encountered each other for the first time. Then, Cheryl - known as Cheryl Cole at the time - was sitting on judging panel - of hit show The X Factor, while Liam was auditioning.
In the unearthed footage of his performance, a fresh-faced Liam gives a swinging rendition of Frank Sinatra's classic Fly Me To The Moon. However, things were made particularly awkward in retrospect as Liam was aged just 14 when the couple first met each other.
Chatting to her fellow judges following his performance, Cheryl was bowled over by Liam's cheeky personality, even giving her a wink midway through singing. Then aged 25, Cheryl was impressed with Liam's confidence and urged the other judges to put him through.
Beaming with a smile, Cheryl chimed: "I like him, I think you're really cute. I think you've got charisma, you gave us that cheeky wink."
While Liam was given four yeses and advanced to bootcamp, his time on the show would be cut short, but he would eventually return to the show two years later to be reunited with Cheryl and begin his One Direction journey. After the pair got together and welcomed their child, some were left shocked at the revelation of their first meeting, something Liam understood the criticism for.
In an interview in 2020 with Esquire magazine, he exclaimed when asked about the awkward meeting: "Let's address the elephant in the room: obviously, the future mother of my son is sitting in that chair. This is now an episode of How I Met Your Mother, so that's enough of that I think."
Since his death on October 16, Cheryl has given her thoughts on her former partner, maintaining the pair remained close - even after their split in 2018. She posted a touching tribute to Liam through a statement on her social media channels, describing him as "not only a pop star or celebrity", but also "a son, brother, an uncle, a dear friend and a father to our seven-year-old n; a son that now has to face the fact if never seeing his father again."
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