Cheryl, the 41-year-old singer and former Girls Aloud member, has changed her name multiple times throughout her career – both before and after dating Liam Payne.

She was born Cheryl Ann Tweedy and later took on the surname Cole after marrying ex-Chelsea footballer Ashley Cole in 2006. Nowadays, she is known simply by her first name. On Wednesday, November 20, Cheryl attended the funeral of her ex-partner Liam Payne, who tragically fell from his hotel balcony in Buenos Aires on October 16.

The service was attended by many famous faces, including Liam’s One Direction bandmates Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, and Louis Tomlinson. Cheryl shares a seven year old son, Bear, with Liam and made a heartbreaking promise at the funeral that their son would never forget his father.

Friends of Cheryl told reporters that she is “dreadfully sad” and dealing with her own grief while also supporting her son, who will grow up without his father. Despite splitting from Liam in 2018, the two remained bonded over their shared love for their son.

Liam and Cheryl
They share a one-year-old son Bear (Image: Getty Images)

Liam and Cheryl
They share a one-year-old son Bear ( Image: Getty Images for Chopard)
Cheryl opened up about why she kept her ex-husband’s surname, Cole, even after their divorce. Speaking to The Times, she said: “That feels like the old me. Old, old me. That would be like going backwards another stage, and why would I do that? And it doesn’t feel like his name,” reports the Daily Star.

However, in 2010, Cheryl announced her split from the footballer and filed for divorce due to ‘unreasonable behavior’.

Despite this, she chose to retain the surname Cole for several years. .

When she married Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini in 2014, she decided to drop Cole from her name. Unfortunately, this marriage was short-lived as they separated in December 2015, after just 18 months, and filed for divorce.

Following her second divorce, Cheryl began a relationship with Liam Payne, whom she first met on X Factor when he was a teenager and she was a judge. They started dating in 2016 and welcomed their son Bear a year later.

Although they never married, Cheryl decided to legally revert to her maiden name, Tweedy, after their breakup. However, she continues to use Cheryl as her stage name.

In a resurfaced interview with The Telegraph, Cheryl praised Liam as a “great dad”. She said: “Liam is a great dad. He’s much softer than me,”.

She confessed that she’s the “strict” one in parenting, while Liam takes a softer approach with their well-mannered son Bear. She elaborated: “I’m the strict one; Liam isn’t. I’ll be the one saying, ‘Just one square of chocolate,’ but Bear is so good.”

She also shared a tender moment, “If I get cross with him he puts his little hands on my face and looks into my eyes to see if I’m deadly serious or a tiny bit cross, and it melts my heart,”.