Cheryl was faced with a crushing choice leading up to Liam Payne’s funeral on Wednesday.
The 41 year old Girls Aloud star joined mourners, including Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, and Niall Horan of One Direction, at St Mary’s Church in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. She came to bid farewell to the late singer who met an untimely end after falling from his hotel balcony in Buenos Aires on October 16.
Cheryl, flanked by her Girls Aloud bandmates Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh, attended the service alongside Liam’s bereaved parents, Geoff and Karen Payne, and his sisters Ruth and Nicola.
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She had a hand in arranging the funeral that she and Liam’s family strived to make “perfect” following his tragic passing. Cheryl, who shares 7 year old son Bear with Liam, and dated the One Direction heartthrob from 2016 until 2018, maintained a tight bond with him post-breakup, co-parenting their son whose face has remained out of the public eye.
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WireImage)
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Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
Snapped at the funeral, visibly shattered, Cheryl laid her former flame to rest. Adorned in a £2,000 velvet-trimmed wool coat from Liberowe and concealing her sorrow with designer sunglasses, friends reveal she’s been “devastated” by Liam’s death.
Furthermore, she made a poignant promise to him concerning Bear. In a deeply moving decision, Cheryl chose to include Bear in the services, despite doubts about what was best for their child, reports the Mirror.
Ultimately, the mother-of-one decided that it was only fair for Bear to bid farewell to his beloved dad Liam alongside his family and close friends. Cheryl’s pain in helping plan the funeral was evident in the flower arrangements at Liam’s burial.
A friend told MailOnline that Cheryl has vowed their child will never forget his father. This promise came as the magnitude of Bear’s loss was displayed when Liam’s coffin arrived at the Home Counties church in a horse-drawn carriage with two floral tributes on top.
Alongside one reading “son”, there was another heart-wrenching tribute from Bear, with white flowers spelling out “Daddy”. Friends of the singer told the news outlet that Cheryl is “dreadfully sad” and added: “She has her own grief, but she also has a little boy who won’t see his daddy again, and that is just heartbreaking,” they said.
The Fight For This Love singer shared a tribute to her former partner on Instagram just days after his death. At the time, she told her fans that she had to “face the reality of never seeing his father again”.
Sharing a cherished photo of Liam in bed with their son, Cheryl said: “As I try to navigate this earth shattering event, and work through my own grief at this indescribably painful time, I’d like to kindly remind everyone that we have lost a human being.”
“Liam was not only a pop star and celebrity, he was a son, a brother, an uncle, a dear friend and a father to our 7 year old son. A son that now has to face the reality of never seeing his father again.”