One Direction star Louis Tomlinson has admitted he was surprised to hear of his bandmate Liam Payne's relationship with former X Factor judge Cheryl. When asked for his thoughts on the couple's romance during an interview on ITV's Lorraine on Monday, he replied: "I mean I heard little bits of development every now and then from Liam but I didn't know how far it was going to end up obviously. I mean I'm super happy for them but at first yeah, it was a bit of a shock I suppose, it was a little bit of a shock."
Liam, 23, and Cheryl, 34, have been dating since 2016 and are proud parents to baby son Bear. News of their romance shocked the world because of their 10-year age gap. However, 25-year-old Louis also explained how he is excited to have playdates with the couple and his little boy Freddie. He added: "Obviously I'm super happy for them. We haven't obviously been able to do it yet logistically but I'm really excited about having Freddie and Bear in the same room. Yeah, it's going to be cool."
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The pop star, who welcomed his son with Briana Jungwirth in January 2016, was asked whether he had felt ready to be a dad, to which he said: "No, but who does? In reality what bloke really, if you say to them, 'are you ready?', they might lie and say they are, they're not. The only way you're ready is through experience and you realise, actually, it is intimidating but it is also the most rewarding thing in the world."
Cheryl and Liam Payne have been dating since last year
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In December, Louis's mother Johanna Deakin passed away following a battle with leukaemia. Just a few days later, the 1D star made the brave decision to perform his debut single on the X Factor. Speaking about his performance, he explained: "Yeah it was a difficult thing for me, you know… Weirdly in hindsight it kind of helped. You know I had this one conversation with my mum and I said, 'how the hell am I meant to be able to do this now?' She just said, 'you have to do it, you have to do it'. It was for both of us yeah,and it was nice."