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Niall Horan and Simon Cowell played Cupid for Cheryl and Liam Payne

Written by . Published: May 22 2017

Liam Payne has his One Direction bandmate Niall Horan and music mogul Simon Cowell to thank for setting him up with girlfriend Cheryl.


The 23-year-old pop star first met Cheryl when he auditioned for Britain's The X Factor reality show, on which she was a judge, back in 2008 - when he was just 14 years old, but it took another few years before Liam's looks caught the eye of the former Girls Aloud singer.

And according to the new dad, it was Niall and the group's Syco Records boss Cowell who set the wheels in motion for the couple, by respectively telling Liam and Cheryl about each other's crush.

Recalling his chat with the Irish singer, Liam shared, "Niall came over to me and said, 'You'll never guess who's got a crush on you - Cheryl. I was saying something about Cheryl in Simon's house and he said, 'I know who the future Mrs. Payne is.'"

"Apparently he (Simon) really embarrassed her one day by saying, 'Do you know who really, really fancies you?'" Liam continued, "and she left the room bright red and Niall told me this whole story. They played Cupid."

Liam and Cheryl, 33, went public with their romance in 2016 and became first-time parents to baby boy Bear in March (17).

Meanwhile, in a new U.K. radio interview on Capital FM on Sunday (21May17), Liam revealed his girlfriend has already regained her pre-baby figure, although Cheryl isn't so convinced.

"Pregnancy is hard to deal with," he began. "It's that first pair of jeans you can't get into and she thinks she's massive but she's lost everything. She's lost all the baby weight and she's like 'Oh, I'm so big', and I'm looking at her going, 'You are insane, woman!'"

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