Liam Payne and Cheryl Cole's touching wish for son Bear's childhood they strongly agreed on

andbroke up in 2018 - but their split didn't stop them being on the same page when it came to their seven-year-old son, Bear.

Former star Liam, who has sadly died at the age of 31, was dedicated to his little boy, and regularly spoke of how much he loved him. Having always wanted to be a young dad, he and Cheryl were overjoyed after welcoming Bear to the on March 25, 2017. Taking to at the time, proud mum Cheryl, now 41, shared: "We are all madly in love and overwhelmingly happy with our little arrival."

The couple parted ways shortly after Bear's first birthday but remained jointly committed when it came to one moving wish for Bear's childhood, which they refused to compromise on.

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In a 2023 interview with , Cheryl revealed that, although Bear thought it was 'pretty cool' to have celebrities as parents, they had taken steps to protect him from the darker aspects of fame. Expressing her longing for Bear to have a 'normal childhood', Cheryl explained: "I don't want people recognising him on the street.

"But he's twigged that I'm famous. The other day he said, 'How lucky am I to have famous parents?' I said, 'It doesn't matter'. He goes: "Yeah. But it's pretty cool'."

This is something Liam also felt very strongly about. On a 2021 episode of the podcast in June 2021, the popstar opened up about why exactly he wanted to give his young son the chance to become his own person.

He said: "Obviously, we protected his identity to start off with, and that's not being pretentious or anything other than the fact that I want to give him a chance to be Bear first before he has to be, 'Oh, your mum and dad are so and so' you know. And I made my choice to be where I was at 14 [or] 15, so I figure he can make his own choice then too."

Both Liam and Cheryl chose not to show Bear's face, however, it's understood he looks strikingly like his dad, as detailed by Liam in a 2020 interview with People magazine. Liam shared: "He looks exactly like me, which is very strange. When family members see baby pictures of me now, they say, "Oh wow, Bear looks really great there!'"

In 2018, a year after Bear's birth, the parents announced their split following two and a half years together, but vowed to remain close to raise their son. A statement read: "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 shared how he spent a lot of quality time with his son. He said: "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."

Do you have a story to share? Email me at julia.banim@reachplc.com. Follow Mirror Celebs on , , , , , and

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