Liam Payne once praised Simon Cowell for setting him up with ex Cheryl

Former One Direction singer Liam Payne admitted Simon Cowell helped set him up with Cheryl in a resurfaced interview with Ant Middleton from 2019

Late singer Liam Payne once praised music mogul Simon Cowell for setting him up with Cheryl Tweedy.

The former One Direction star was only 14 years old when he tried his luck at becoming a pop star. He signed up to the X Factor in 2008 as he took part in an audition in front of judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Cheryl and Dannii Minogue. Almost a decade later, he started dating Girls Aloud singer Cheryl. He returned to the show two years later the rest was history.

Cheryl and Liam welcomed their son Bear, now seven, the next year before their split in July 2018. In a resurfaced clip from Straight Talking in 2019, Liam talked to Ant Middleton about his relationship with Cheryl and revealed Simon played the matchmaker after Liam told him he thought she was 'hot'.

He revealed he having dinner at Simon's house and teased: "Well I think I know who the next Mrs Payne is going to be." A couple of weeks went by when Niall Horan showed up to the bar Liam was hanging out in and told the Strip That Down singer: "Cheryl has got a crush on you."

Niall was in Simon's dressing room with Cheryl and others one day when Simon brought up Liam's name before she went 'bright red and left the room'. Liam went on to tell Ant: "So I just hit her up and when I came back from America we just hung out a bunch of times and it just went from there."

Ant asked: "So basically Simon Cowell was the matchmaker?" before Liam sweetly replied: "Basically I won X Factor more than anyone." Ant asked: "Perhaps a Cheryl and Liam comeback?" Liam then cheekily replied at the time: "I don't know about that, if she plays her cards right."

He then quipped: "I am going to get a slap for all this when I get home." Years later, during his car crash interview with Logan Paul, he opened up about the breakdown of his relationship with Cheryl after welcoming Bear. He said: "To be honest with you, it ruined a relationship at that point – but for all the right reasons. I was so excited for him to be born that I was actually worried if I wouldn't love him enough."

The singer admitted it was scary when Bear was first born as Cheryl "haemorrhaged quite badly" after the birth. This meant she had to rest for much of Bear's first day in the world – leaving a young Liam to care for his baby son. "It was me and a baby in the room, and I had to take care of him. It was fun," he said.

Discussing the relationship he had with his son, Liam added: "I take my son to school one or two times a week and it's the best thing. The relationship we [him and Cheryl] have now as friends has only grown more. We broke up for a reason and now she gives me full autonomy of my life and to do what I do and I know he's [Bear's] taken care of. He is all she cares about and I couldn't ask for more."

Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.