All About Liam Payne’s Son Bear

Liam Payne has been a father since 2017.

The “Steal My Girl” singer welcomed his first child, son Bear Grey, with singer Cheryl on March 22, 2017.

Payne previously admitted to PEOPLE that he “always wanted to be a young dad,” but fatherhood at a young age wasn’t easy. During a later interview in December 2020, he further spoke about how he had to “learn” to be a parent over time.

“I had a son when I was young, and you think it’s going to be a magical thing, that one day you’re going to grow into the person you’re supposed to be,” he told PEOPLE. “But it took me a long time to find my footing. I thought, Dad takes care of everything, that’s what he does, so my thing was to cook.”

After splitting from Cheryl in July 2018, the singer focused on spending a lot of quality time with his son, while simultaneously building a solo music career.

“I see him twice a week, sometimes three times a week,” he said of Bear 2022. “And I make sure that when I see him he has 100 percent of my time. I make sure I’m not on my phone or gambling somewhere else.”

Payne added: “So I like to give him those moments and that’s important, he needs that in his life, he needs his dad in his life, and I’m happy that he sees me as a superhero, and I hope he stays that way. ”

In July 2023, Payne posted a video on YouTube in which he revealed that he had been sober for nearly six months after spending time in a rehab facility. In the video, he thanked Bear and Cheryl “for giving me some freedom to go and get better,” adding that “there’s no point in trying to be a dad when you have nothing to learn.”

From the story behind his name to why his parents keep him off social media, here’s everything you need to know about Liam Payne’s son, Bear.

He was born in March 2017

Liam Payne/Instagram.

Payne and Cheryl welcomed their baby boy, who weighed 7 lbs., 9 oz., on March 22, 2017. The new parents announced his birth a few days later with a Polaroid shot of Payne cradling their son, which they both posted on Instagram.

“I’m so incredibly happy to welcome our new baby boy into the world, it’s a moment I’ll never forget for the rest of my life and my favorite memory to date,” Payne wrote. “I’m totally in awe of his amazing mother and how she’s come all the way through this, she’s really made my dreams come true.”

At first he had no name

When the former couple announced the arrival of their son, they also revealed that his name had not yet been named. Before finally settling on “Bear,” Payne and Cheryl debated whether or not their son’s nickname should be traditional.

“It was like an internal battle,” Payne recalled Full access in May 2017. “I wanted a more traditional name and she wanted a name that was more unusual. And the reason she ended up choosing Bear is because Bear is a name you won’t forget when you walk out of the room. And I love that.”

“When I look at him, he’s just Bear. At first I didn’t really like it. I was like, ‘I’m not really sure. I don’t really understand.’ I look at it now and it’s Bear. You become your name as you get older anyway,” he added.

In September 2017, Payne shared more about the story behind his son’s name during an appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden. The “Strip That Down” singer revealed to host James Corden that “one of the midwives” called his son “bear” in the delivery room.

“He had this thing where if they didn’t cry out well, he would get fluid in his lungs, which is pretty serious, so he was like ‘grrrr,'” he said. “I had 10 doctors come into my room, and finally the guy said, ‘Dude, I’m not funny. He’s fine. He just likes to make a lot of noise.’ And it’s continued ever since, so he just became Bear.”

He loves his father’s music

One of the sweetest things about Payne and Bear is that his son is his biggest fan. According to the singer, Bear was one of the first people to hear his demos.

“I played him the demos of ‘Familiar’ way before it came out,” Payne told PEOPLE in July 2018. “Then when it came out, he said, ‘I remember this!’ He stiffens and seems to shake with excitement and wants to get as close as possible to the speaker.”

He added: “For me, I love making great music for my fans. But when you make something that your son loves, it’s the best thing ever. Whenever he’s crying or something, I’m like, ‘family, family,’ and he’s like, ‘Hey, it’s him again!’ He loves it.”

His parents protect his privacy

Cheryl Instagram

Payne and Cheryl have chosen to keep their son out of the limelight since his birth. Although they occasionally share photos on Instagram in which Bear’s back is turned or with only his hand in the frame, they largely protect their son’s privacy online.

During a podcast appearance Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware in November 2018, Cheryl shared that she and Payne have always agreed to keep their son off social media.

“I actually like sending letters [to the media] to say like please respect his privacy and stuff like that because … it’s not his choice and it’s not up to me to make that decision, I don’t feel and I want him to love to have a childhood like everyone else like me,” she said.

Payne echoed this sentiment in the podcast CEO Diary with Stephen Bartlett in June 2021, where he spoke openly about giving his son a chance to be himself.

“Obviously we’ve protected his identity from the beginning, and it’s not 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 mom and dad are so and so you know,'” he said. . “I chose to be where I was at 14/15, so I think he can choose for himself then.”

He looks just like his dad

While neither Payne nor Cheryl have publicly shared a photo of their son’s face, the former One Direction member told PEOPLE in December 2020 that his then-three-year-old son looks a lot like him.

“He looks exactly like me, which is very strange,” he said. “Now when family members see my baby pictures, they say, ‘Oh, wow, Bear looks really great there!’ ”

Payne and his son may mirror each other in the looks department, but they also have similar fashion sense. In June 2017, the singer posted a photo on Instagram of him and Bear wearing a matching pair of black and white Yeezys with the caption, “Like father, like son.”

He loves Christmas

Bear has no problem getting into the holiday spirit! Payne told PEOPLE in December 2020 that his son is finally aware of the joys of Christmas.

“He totally gets it now! He was watching Home alone and ‘Merry Christmas, you filthy animal’ was one of his first lines,” he said with a laugh. “I think it’s absolutely hilarious. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The singer also said Bear’s love of the holidays helped him learn to enjoy Christmas again.

“It really reignited Christmas for me. I moved away from home when I was 17, so it kind of took on a new meaning for Christmas,” he said. “It was great to be able to shower people with gifts and make everyone feel welcome, but for some reason Christmas always felt a bit hollow. Now he’s kind of filled that hole for me and I understand him again.”

He was in quarantine with his mom during the pandemic

Although Payne lives down the street from his son, the pandemic has made it difficult for the father-son duo to spend time together.

During an Instagram Live in January 2021, the singer said that visiting his son was “difficult because of COVID” and that he had to “wait for me to be negative” before going to see him, which could be a long process. Payne told PEOPLE in May 2020 that he was able to connect with his son via Facetime — and admitted that the toddler wasn’t always interested.

“FaceTime with my son can go a number of different ways,” Payne said. “I FaceTimed him before and he was on the trampoline in a princess dress with a pair of wellingtons playing the ukulele. And the other time he’s very interested sponge Bob that his mom will say, ‘Say hello to dad’, and he’ll say, ‘Hi, dad’. And then he goes back inside sponge Bob. That’s so funny.”

He added that he often behaved like that when he was a child. “I remember my grandpa would be on the phone and I’d always be in the middle of something and be like, ‘I can’t talk on the phone,'” he said. “So I know he’s a lot like me in that sense. But it was really hard. It was hard to miss him knowing he was so close but so far away at the same time.”

He celebrated his fifth birthday with a big party

In March 2022, Payne shared with PEOPLE how he celebrated Bear’s 5th birthday with a big party that included all of his son’s friends.

“It was also his first birthday party after COVID. And it’s the first time he’s actually aware that it’s his birthday and what a birthday is,” he said. “So we threw him a really big party and he had the best time.”

“I got to meet all my school friends and stuff, which was really, really sweet. Yeah, 30 5-year-olds in a room was a lot to deal with, but we did it with them. They had the best time. So that’s all that matters.” , the singer added.

He thinks it’s “pretty cool” that his parents are famous

During the interview with British Vogue in November 2023, Cheryl shared that Bear thinks he’s “lucky” to have famous parents.

“The other day he said, ‘How lucky am I to have famous parents?’ I said, ‘It doesn’t matter.’ He says, ‘Yeah. But it’s really cool,'” she told the outlet. “The problem is that I want Bear to have a normal childhood. I don’t want people to recognize him on the street. But it bothers him that I’m famous.”

A few months later, Bear saw Payne on a giant billboard in London, promoting the singer’s single “Teardrops.” Payne shared the sweet father-son moment on Instagram and captured Bear’s reaction in the caption: “I want to be on a billboard one day dad.”

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Source: HIS Education