After constantly being in the limelight since her days in Girls Aloud and her follow-up solo career, Cheryl has taken a step back from public scrutiny in recent years, opting to live a quieter and more private life with her son, Bear.
Even now, as she’s reportedly in a new relationship, Cheryl is apparently determined to keep her love life private too and has gone to extreme lengths to keep her new man under wraps.
A source tells Closer, ‘Much like keeping herself and Bear out of the public eye, Cheryl is determined to keep her love life to herself and will do anything to protect it, even going so far as to wear quite elaborate disguises.’
The insider reveals that some of Cheryl’s favourite undercover looks include ‘dressing as a boy’. And while she’s not wearing masks, she occasionally puts on caps and wigs, and has even ‘used prosthetics’ to hide her identity in public.
It is understandable why Cheryl, 41, wants to keep her new relationship under wraps after having such a turbulent history with her love life. She had an elaborate wedding to footballer Ashley Cole in 2006, but announced their split in 2010 after he cheated on her more than once. After dating a few other men (mainly dancers), Cheryl had a shock marriage to restaurateur Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini in 2014, which sadly only lasted for 18 months.
She then made headlines again while dating toyboy 1D star Liam Payne in 2016 and welcomed their son Bear the following year. Despite splitting in 2018, they remained co-parents to Bear, now eight, but life has been tough for Cheryl since Liam tragically passed away in October. At the time, Cheryl said, ‘Liam was not only a pop star and celebrity, he was a son, a brother, an uncle, a dear friend and a father to our seven-year- old son. A son that now has to face the reality of never seeing his father again.’
Since then, Cheryl has thrown herself into motherhood and focusing on Bear, saying she’s, ‘determined Bear will grow up grounded’. Our source shares, ‘Maintaining privacy is her ultimate goal in giving Bear the freedom to grow up anonymously. Cheryl wants more than ever for Bear to have a life as a child growing up, and keep him away from unwanted attention. Liam wanted the same; to protect Bear’s identity at all costs, to give him his childhood. It’s so precious, you never get that time back, or any time for that matter.’
However, despite her heartbreak over Liam, Cheryl has been dipping a toe back into the dating pool and was last year reported to be seeing a mystery man. They met during Girls Aloud’s heyday but grew close last year during the band’s reunion tour. An insider at the time said, ‘While it was a relatively short romance, he was the first man she developed deep feelings for since her split from Liam and she fell head over heels for him pretty quickly.’
But Cheryl was once again unlucky in love. She previously said that finding a relationship is ‘so not something I’m even thinking about. I’ve found the love of my life [Bear] and he’s absolutely enough for me’.
However, Cheryl is slowly getting her confidence back, and it seems like her latest love has a lot to do with it. ‘Cheryl clearly finds comfort and support in him,’ says our source. ‘She’s been through some rough patches but has come through it all smiling.
‘She’s being very guarded, though. She’s become conditioned to this and it works for her, holding onto the most private things in her life. She has no intention of sharing her man or his identity either. The only thing we know – and it’s fairly cryptic – is that he is tall, dark and has a continental connection.’
And while our source says that ‘Cheryl’s mystery man is staying just that – a mystery’, they add that she’s ‘found her smile and confidence again. It’s good to see her happy, she deserves nothing more’.