Kimberley Walsh says best friend Cheryl is finding Liam Payne split ‘tough’

Kimberley Walsh has opened up about Cheryl’s split from Liam Payne, saying it has been “tough”.

Cheryl and Payne called time on their two-and-a-half year relationship earlier this month, telling fans that they “still have so much love for each other”.

Walsh updated fans on how her best friend is coping after being probed by Gloria Hunniford on Loose Women.

“I mean, you know, it’s obviously tough,” Walsh said. “But, she’s doing really well.

Walsh said she still sees her former Girls Aloud band mate often as their sons enjoy play dates together. Walsh has X-year-old Bobby with Justin Scott and Cheryl has one-year-old son Bear with Payne.

“We’ve both got young boys the same age, so we get together all the time,” she said.

“I was there last week and we had a barbecue, and just seeing the kids playing together and this new phase that we’re in in our lives is so lovely.”

Walsh’s comments came weeks after Nicola Roberts broke her silence in the wake of Cheryl’s split.

Speaking on Loose Women she said: “She’s good. She’s good. She’s on the mend.”

She also slammed those who question why her friend can’t ‘hold a man down’ adding: “It’s misogynistic. It should be more like, why can’t a man hold her down?”

Cheryl, who made her first public appearance since breaking up with Payne at Simon Cowell’s summer party, recently slammed “nasty and false” reports that her mother was to blame for the end of their relationship.

She said her mother has “absolutely nothing” to do with the split and that she “doesn’t deserve to be dragged into” the fall out.

Loose Women is on ITV, weekdays at 12:30pm