Former One Direction member Liam Payne just admitted he had some struggles with fatherhood when his first child, Bear, was born back in 2017. The 26-year-old just got real about the difficulty of finding a role in his son’s life before deciding to focus on looking after ex-girlfriend Cheryl Cole after she gave birth.
“I built it up so much in my head. Finding your feet in that relationship between child and father — it’s difficult,” the singer told The Guardian in a recent interview. “Cheryl was always really glued to Bear, so for me, I was like, ‘What’s my role in this? If I cook and look after her, then in turn I’m looking after him’ – that made sense to me.”
He also explained that with his career as a musician, the “Stack It Up” singer often finds it “always difficult” to go for long stretches of time without seeing his son.
“He’s good at using the phone and FaceTime,” Liam said about how he connects with Bear when he’s away.
Previously, Liam opened up about what it was like for him becoming a dad at such a young age, telling Liam Payne: Straight Talking host Ant Middleton, “Becoming a dad at such a young age, it’s such a difficult thing. And I think I built fatherhood up so much in my head that it kind of messed me up to start with. I started in a bad place with it,” he told , the documentary’s host. “I think it spooked me out early on, and I was just worried I would not be enough to look after the both of them. They’re so important to me — Cheryl as well.”
He even talked about his 36-year-old ex and revealed that even though they parted ways back in July 2018, he still considers her a major part of his life.
“She’s one of the most, if not the most, important people in my life. I’m lucky I have someone who understands what I’m going through. The one thing I was missing as a man in the relationship I had, was a level understanding about what she was feeling about stuff. I think I learnt through being away that, while I want to protect her, there’s a big part of her that wants to protect me.”
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