Cheryl and Payne famously (or notoriously, depending on your take) met in 2008 when Payne was just 14 . Ten years his senior, Cheryl was 24, working as a judge on The X Factor. Payne did not advance that season, but returned in 2010 and — as luck would have it — ended up in a boy band called One Direction. They didn't start dating until around 2016, when Cheryl officially split from her second husband Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini. In March of last year, the couple welcomed a baby named Bear . In his statement, Payne said that Bear is their "world" and asked that fans respect the child's privacy.