CHERYL has returned to the spotlight 10 months after the tragic death of Liam Payne – her ex-boyfriend and father of her adored eight-year-old son Bear.
Her three million Instagram fans couldn’t be happier – “the people’s princess” cooed one – but is she really ready? I know the truth – and, bizarrely, it’s all thanks to the very embarrassing and public falling out I had with her.
Cheryl has returned to the spotlight 10 months after the tragic death of Liam Payne[/caption]
Cheryl never looked better in the video despite her unimaginable grief[/caption]
The Girls Aloud icon, 42, emerged for the first time in months when a teaser video dropped on Monday announcing that she has collaborated with Nivea as the face of their Epigenetics Age Rewind Serum.
Let’s be frank, despite the unimaginable grief and agony she’s endured in the past year, she’s never looked better.
Returning to her showbiz life is not a decision she will have taken lightly. Her number one priority is, and will always be, Bear.
But I believe she’s ready – and my run-in with her in 2013 explains why.
Back then, Cheryl was one of the most high profile, famous women in the country. She’d been a judge on the hottest TV show of the moment, The X Factor, a member of Girls Aloud and a successful solo artist.
Her every move was reported and dissected, and her 30th birthday party was no different.
Single at the time – post Ashley Cole marriage, pre Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini – from the social media pictures she posted it appeared to be a small affair in Las Vegas, with just her mum, her PA, a few members of her hair and make up team and bandmates Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh.
I wrote a feature for another newspaper that I’m not particularly proud of today, saying it looked like “the most depressing 30th birthday in the history of celebrations”.
Many celebrities, especially at the time, followed the old mantra Never Complain Never Explain, figuring that if they object to misleading coverage all they do is draw more attention to it.
Most of them just put up and shut up. But Cheryl is not most celebrities. This feisty star gave me both barrels – deservedly so, but ouch!
She tweeted: “#poorpolly Meow.. Who exactly was my party depressing for? yourself? sitting behind your little computer watching Instagram.. aww!!
“Well I really don’t know where to start with this one I have to say! Cats got my tongue (no pun intended) I am actually dumbfounded reading your nasty bitter horrible incredibly inaccurate and misinformed article!
“Is this what you have been resorted to??! i feel bad for you. You literally have NO correct detail other than the 4 or 5 people you were able to identify from the “Instagram” pictures!”
It didn’t end there. She went on: “Really?!! Smh. It’s embarrassing. I have no idea why or where your nastiness has suddenly come from as you have only ever kissed my arse to my face..
“I won’t bother myself with handing you any correct information or facts as I feel that is a part of YOUR job you seriously need to work on.. Good luck with that #bitterbilly #saucerofmilkforPolly”
It made me feel terrible, and ashamed, mostly because I knew deep down that she was right.
I had looked at the select few photos she’d chosen to share and not considered that they weren’t the full story.
I had also forgotten that Cheryl was a human being, with feelings, and that what I was writing might hurt her.
To be honest, I had assumed she probably wouldn’t even see it, never mind might be wounded by it.
‘Standing up for herself’
I nervously checked every detail of every story I wrote about her after that, knowing there were embarrassing consequences of getting any aspect wrong.
But also, her punishment definitely fit my crime, and felt well deserved. I had written something publicly about her, and she had done the exact same to me.
She made her own rules, and lived by them, but they were fair.
She wasn’t being spiteful or petty, she was standing up for herself, presumably deciding that just because she was famous didn’t mean she had to sit silently by, be passive, not say what she thought at all times.
This outburst makes me certain that Cheryl is well equipped to deal with whatever this comeback throws at her
She had a right to reply, and boy oh boy did she use it!
But crucially this outburst makes me certain that Cheryl is well equipped to deal with whatever this comeback throws at her.
She is made of tough stuff. She hasn’t rushed anything, but sensibly took the time that she and Bear needed to grieve in private, a process that is obviously still ongoing, and will be forever.
And Cheryl has always been hard as nails. After criticisms in the past about her clothes, her hair, her singing, her dancing… she’s always come back fighting.
A key reason that she prevails as the nation’s sweetheart is that, at heart, she’s a normal working-class girl from Newcastle.
I first met her at her then-publicist’s birthday party, and she was warm and friendly, but it was also immediately clear that she was different from the usual stars on the scene.
Late Liam is the father of their eight-year-old son Bear[/caption]
Cheryl has also been through the heart-breaking death of Girls Aloud Sarah Harding, and two very public divorces[/caption]
I knew that we went to the same hairdresser for the extensions we were both sporting at the time, and, panicking for something to say to her, I mentioned this.
Many celebrities would not have been happy, they wouldn’t want anyone to know what went on behind the curtain, and would have denied any tweaks to their appearance.
‘Graft to get on’
Cheyl, refreshingly, looked me straight in the eye and grinned instead.
“I love my extensions,” she announced, “You just get addicted to the thickness, don’t you?”
Her no-nonsense honesty, vulnerability, Teflon-like persona and model looks is clearly why Nivea has snapped her up – and why she’ll never fall out of public favour.
If she says she’s ready to work again, we must believe her.
Her no-nonsense honesty, vulnerability, Teflon-like persona and model looks is clearly why Nivea has snapped her up – and why she’ll never fall out of public favour
Along with the loss of Liam, who died in Argentina in October, she recently coped with a terrifying stalker, who was jailed in March, and has also been through the heart-breaking death of Girls Aloud Sarah Harding, not to mention two very public divorces.
We are talking about an extremely formidable woman here, with a spirit that cannot be squashed.
Hopefully the Nivea campaign is just the start of a new chapter for Cheryl, a gloriously triumphant one that will make her little boy proud.
Interestingly, it seems her little boy is the inspiration behind her courageous comeback, as an insider tells The Sun: “Cheryl’s in a much better place at the moment and she’s really keen to show Bear that you need to push on and keep going when life gets tough.
“She wants to instill a good work ethic in him and that you need to graft to get on in life – she’s always worked hard in the past.
“It’s a big part of why she decided to take on this campaign – she’s feeling positive despite everything that has gone on.”
If Cheryl says she’s ready to work again after taking time to grieve Liam’s death in private, we must believe her[/caption]
Inside Liam Payne and Cheryl’s romance
By Joanne Kavanagh, Showbiz Reporter
It was a romance that caused a media storm.
One Direction hunk Liam Payne was only 14 when he met former X Factor judge Cheryl during the show in 2008.
But it wasn’t until 2016 – when the Girls Aloud singer was divorcing her second husband – that the pair got together despite their ten-year age gap.
The couple made their relationship official in May of that year when they appeared at Eva Longoria’s Global Gift Gala in Paris.
In 2017, Liam paid a sweet tribute to his girlfriend by getting a tattoo of her eye on his arm.
Cheryl was pregnant at the time and gave birth to a boy on March 22, 2017.
She posted a picture on Instagram of Liam cradling their 7lb 9oz baby and captioned: “On Wednesday Liam and I became parents to an incredibly beautiful, healthy baby boy looking like a dream.”
One pal told The Sun: “Liam didn’t leave Cheryl’s side throughout the birth, and like her, he is besotted with their new son and can’t wait to take him home.
“This is the perfect Mother’s Day for Cheryl.”
The Sun revealed in May 2017 that the couple named their son Bear.
They decided on the unusual name after spending a week getting to know him.
In February 2018, The Sun broke the news that Liam’s constant travelling to promote his solo career had placed a huge strain on the relationship, and the pair were ready to split.
That same month, Cheryl said “none of it matters” as she shrugged off questions about her crumbling romance with Liam during a BBC Breakfast interview.
They then put on a united front together at the Brit Awards where they smiled on the red carpet and Cheryl joked about the couple’s ‘safe word’.
However, by July 2018, Cheryl and Liam made the decision to split.
A pal told The Sun: “Cheryl and Liam worked really hard on their relationship – they had troubles earlier this year and were able to get through them.
“But they’re in different stages of their lives and, after a lot of careful thought, came to a decision that it’s best for everyone if they do go their separate ways.”
Liam and Cheryl released a statement confirming their break-up which 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.”