For ten months Cheryl Tweedy has maintained a dignified silence, retreating from the spotlight.
So grief-stricken was the mother-of-one after the death of her former partner Liam Payne that she last posted on Instagram in October. It was a heartbreaking tribute to the father of her eight-year-old son Bear, after the One Direction star, 31, died in a fall from a hotel balcony in Argentina.
But yesterday Cheryl signalled her return as she fronted a dazzling new advert for Nivea, which, I’m told, cost the cosmetics giant a seven-figure sum.
The star, however, made just one non-negotiable request when agreeing to the shoot. She insisted on having her son Bear by her side – a demand bosses immediately agreed to. One insider told me: ‘It was very important for Cheryl to have Bear there with her. They are inseparable.
‘As you can imagine it has been the most heartbreaking few months for the two of them and she has done everything she can to support him. She has had some pretty low ebbs herself, but just seeing Bear happy always puts a smile back on her face.
‘He has been her number one priority and always will be. So as she tentatively returns to the limelight it felt only right that Bear be there.’
Bear doesn’t appear in the advert, however. My source told me that Cheryl ‘is fiercely protective of Bear and doesn’t want his face out there. She is only too aware of the pitfalls of fame’.
‘But I think it is fair to say that he was the most important person in the room that day,’ they added. The shoot, at a studio in West London last month, was a strict secret. ‘There was such a fun atmosphere on set, and everybody was saying how cute Bear was. It was great to see him so happy after the awful tragedy with his father,’ the insider added.
Despite the ten-year age gap, Cheryl and Liam’s relationship blossomed following her divorce from businessman Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini
Cheryl is the face of Nivea’s new anti-ageing serum and the campaign, announced on Instagram, also contains nods to the Girls Aloud singer’s storied career – and to Liam.
The teaser trailer opens with Cheryl stepping from a car in towering heels and a leather trench coat, striding onto a studio set before sitting down, her face obscured by a newspaper carrying the lyrics of her 2009 hit Fight For This Love alongside the date ‘August 2025’.
The caption beneath reads: ‘This is right up our street’ – a reference to one of Cheryl’s favourite catchphrases during her time as a judge on X Factor.
An insider said: ‘The X Factor is such a big part of Cheryl’s story and it is, of course, where she first met Liam. It just felt right.’
The pair first met in 2008 when a 14-year-old Liam auditioned for the show with Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon.
By then Cheryl, 25, was a judge, having been catapulted to fame six years earlier on talent show Popstars: The Rivals, during which Girls Aloud was formed.
Liam, clearly unfazed by her celebrity, gave her a cheeky wink during his performance. Though Liam was eliminated, he returned to the show two years later aged 16 and was placed in a boyband alongside Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan – which became One Direction.
Despite the ten-year age gap, their relationship turned romantic in 2016, following Cheryl’s divorce from businessman Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini.
Cheryl in her skincare campaign with Nivea. Many are predicting a return to TV for the former Girls Aloud singer, with talks of a judging role on The Voice
Little more than a year later, Bear Grey Payne was born at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. But even before Bear’s first birthday, the couple had split amid reports of rows and Liam’s struggles with addiction.
Even so, Liam always made time for his son, with whom he maintained regular contact, often entertaining him with giant toy dinosaurs in his garden. That all came to a heartbreaking end last October when Liam fell from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires.
The singer was found to have had drugs including crack cocaine and methamphetamine in his system.
Cheryl’s tribute was a black-and-white photograph of Liam in bed with his son, captioned: ‘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.
‘It is breaking my heart further that I cannot protect him from that in his future. Please give Liam the little dignity he has left in the wake of his death to rest in some peace at last.’
Now she’s back in the limelight, what will Cheryl do next? Many are predicting a return to TV, with talks of a judging role on The Voice. At the close of her new Nivea advert, the director asks Cheryl: ‘Are you ready?’
Cheryl lowers the newspaper, her smoky eyes peeping over the top: ‘I’m ready.’
‘That wasn’t just marketing,’ said one source. ‘That was Cheryl telling the world she is ready for her comeback.’
But it was only possible with the support of her darling boy Bear.
