Liam Payne And Cheryl Tweedy Call It Quits

Liam Payne and Cheryl Tweedy have split up.

The former One Direction member took to Twitter to announce the news of their separation on Sunday, July 1, 2018 — one day after Tweedy's 35th birthday. "Cheryl and I are sad to announce that we are going our separate ways," he wrote. "It's been a tough decision for us to make. We still have so much love for each other as a family."

Payne, who shares son Bear with Tweedy, continued, "Bear is our world and we ask that you respect his privacy as we navigate our way through this together."

Tweedy, who recently started using her maiden name again after going by Cheryl Cole for years, shared a near-exact message on her own Twitter page.

The now-former couple had previously met when Payne auditioned for The X Factor in 2008 when he was just 14 years old (via The Guardian). Tweedy, who'd already found success as a member of Girls Aloud, was a judge on the show at the time. Though Payne didn't make it during that season, he came back two years later, forming One Direction with Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, and Niall Horan.

They later started dating in 2015, and the pair, who boast a ten-year age gap between them, later welcomed baby Bear into the world on March 22, 2017.

Shortly before the birth of their son, Payne had gushed about Tweedy to the press," calling her his "dream girl." Speaking with Rollacoaster, he said, "Obviously I have the most ­beautiful girlfriend in the world and she's absolutely amazing. She's been my dream girl since I was younger. She's so ace."

We wonder what went wrong.