Liam Payne says it was tough missing son's birthday because of lockdown

Liam Payne has admitted it was “really tough” missing his son Bear’s third birthday because of the coronavirus lockdown.

The singer’s son with his ex girlfriend Cheryl turned three in March.

The One Direction heartthrob said that he and Cheryl talked about it and decided it was for the best that he miss it, but that he hated not being with his little boy on his big day.

Read more: Fans charmed as Bear’s Geordie accent is heard in video

Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Liam said: “It was a really tough call to make to not go down for his birthday.

"I discussed it with Cheryl and we just thought it was the best option.

"I'm out here in the city and I'd been exposed to everything before his birthday and we were slowly finding out information about this thing.

"It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time which was horrible, and missing out on it wasn’t great.”

“I got lots of pictures and videos, I did a little FaceTime,” he added.

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"That has been the hardest thing, it is the most difficult thing for all of us,” the singer went on.

“It's quite funny - the technology that was kind of pushing us quite far apart is now bringing us closer together in this time.”

Read more: Cheryl feared son Bear would be swapped at birth

Payne and Cheryl started dating each other in 2016 and they welcomed Bear - the first child for each of them - the following year.

However, the couple went their separate ways in 2018.