Simon Cowell, 65, and Cheryl, 41, put their past differences aside to attend the funeral of Liam Payne on Wednesday.
The former One Direction star tragically passed away on October 16 at the young age of 31. His final farewell was held in Amersham, where his family and close friends gathered to pay their respects. Despite their tumultuous history, both Simon and Cheryl were present at the service due to their personal connections with Liam. Their relationship had been strained for years following a bitter dispute that led to a significant feud. The most notable fallout occurred in 2011 when Cheryl was abruptly fired from X Factor USA just weeks into her tenure, before the show even aired.
Following her split from Ashley Cole, Cheryl moved to the US, but was let go by Simon after he felt she wasn’t living up to her role.
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“My falling-out with Cheryl came soon after her divorce and was a nightmare,” Simon confessed to Radio Times in 2014. “We were all wound up. There was so much expectation on the show in America and I definitely wasn’t myself. I was uptight.”
He went on to criticize her appearance, stating that she was unrecognizable. “When I saw her I didn’t recognise her,” he said, adding, “Literally. The hair and outfit were crazy. Just totally crazy. I asked her manager, ‘What’s she wearing, what’s happened to her hair? ‘”.
“He was defensive about it. I haven’t a clue why she turned up like that. She’d put on a bit of weight, but not loads. That wasn’t the issue. The only way I can describe it is that it wasn’t Cheryl sitting in that seat. She’d lost her confidence.”
Cheryl then sent Simon a “horrible” text, reflecting later, “In hindsight he was right because I wasn’t myself. He wasn’t himself either. He was under a lot of strain because it was a new venture. But he handled it wrongly – he got somebody else to sack me.”
“I didn’t want to talk to him at the time. I didn’t want to talk to anybody. The sacking came on top of everything else, it was just the cherry on the cake.”
After a long period of silence, Cheryl’s relationship with Simon appeared irreparable. She confessed to Elle, “I went through hell and it literally drove me mad. I became so desensitised, you could say terrible things to me and I wouldn’t even think about it.”
However, the ice thawed when Simon played matchmaker between Cheryl and Liam Payne. At a dinner at Simon’s, Liam expressed his interest in Cheryl, calling her “hot,” prompting Simon to nudge Cheryl for her thoughts on the younger star.
This led to the blossoming of their romance, culminating in the birth of their son Bear in March 2017. Bear has since brought Simon and Cheryl closer, with Simon revealing that Bear gets along splendidly with his own son, Eric.