The One Direction star spoke of his joy at becoming a father, taking son Bear to school as often as he could and watching him enjoy the magic of Christmas each year

Liam Payne and Cheryl Tweedy separated when their son Bear was just a baby, but Christmas still always remained a family affair.

The popstars co-parented each festive season to make sure Bear’s celebrations were as magical as possible, but this year will be devastatingly different. For Liam died in a hotel fall in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 16, aged just 31. This will be seven-year-old Bear’s first Christmas without his dad, who was determined to make Christmas Day extra special for him each year.

The One Direction star told This Morning in 2018: “I’m going to go down and see Bear, maybe cook a Christmas dinner and just hang out with family. Yeah, we’re going to go down and cook some food and hang out.”

“I think it’s the first time he really gets Christmas now,” he continued. “I want to see if he actually gets unwrapping presents this year though, because otherwise, it’ll just be Cheryl by the tree again. I can really remember it from last year, she wrapped them all up and then unwrapped them and I just sat there going, ‘Right, what is this?'”

The One Direction star said his seven-year-old son Bear was his world ( 
Image:
Instagram)

Even after ending their relationship, Cheryl, 41, and Liam never had a bad word to say

about each other, and regularly praised each other’s parenting skills. The former couple broke up shortly after Bear’s first birthday but maintained an amicable co-parenting relationship – even living close to each other to make things easier.

Speaking on Logan Paul’s podcast Impaulsive, Liam opened up about their positive arrangement, explaining: “I get to take my son to school one or two times a week and it’s the best thing. The relationship we 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. They live like three minutes from my house. I always glue myself to where he is. My life now is his.”

In a heartbreaking statement shared after Liam’s death, Cheryl reflected on Bear facing ‘the reality of never seeing his father again’. She wrote: “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 seven-year-old son.

“A son that now has to face the reality of never seeing his father again. What is troubling my spirit the most is that one day Bear will have access to the abhorrent reports and media exploitation we have seen in the past two days. It is breaking my heart further that I cannot protect him from that in his future.”