Liam Payne says he won’t be fighting for custody of son with Cheryl

LIAM PAYNE has signalled he won’t be fighting Cheryl Tweedy for custody of their son Bear after conceding the little lad is better off with his mum.

Having called it quits last week, the globe-trotting former 1D star says he is happier taking on the role of ‘fun guy’ rather than full-time dad — but admitted he never expected to end up this way.

‘Babies want their mum; I would never have wanted to get in the way of that,’ he explained. ‘It was easier to go out on the road just knowing he wanted his mum.

‘Now he looks at me and points at me like, “Here’s this fun guy!” He knows.’

Liam said he could have never have predicted he would be a single dad at only 24, admitting: ‘I always wanted to be a young dad but I didn’t expect that I’d ever be in this place.’

The Strip That Down singer, who has moved into a London bachelor pad, enjoyed yet another night on the lash on Tuesday night — Drake’s party at Annabel’s in Mayfair.

Cheryl, 35, is remaining in his £5million Surrey mansion with one-year-old Bear and her mum, Joan.

Liam says that luckily their son doesn’t understand what is going on and doesn’t realise his dad is always jetting the globe or at showbiz bashes.

‘That makes me more upset now, leaving, because I know he’ll want to see me,’ he added. ‘But he’s not at the place yet where he’s crying when I leave; that’s gonna be absolute disaster. I’m not ready for that.’ Despite putting his career first, he acknowledged to People magazine: ‘It’s been very hard, being away, out on the road.’

But Liam promised his mini-me will have his undivided attention when he gets back. ‘When I’m at home, I’m a dad,’ he insisted.

And he is conscious of how quickly time will fly when he is away. ‘I walked past a baby in the park and was like, “Mine was never that small!” He was always massive,’ he said.

‘I look at him, like, “Where’s my little baby gone already?”

‘He’s walking around the house, pretending his teddy’s a phone. He’s awesome. And a lot of fun. I love spending time with him.’

Bear’s gran was busy on babysitting duties this week as Cheryl also hit the town at Simon Cowell’s summer bash.

Author: Andrei Harmsworth