They may have a child together, but Liam Payne doesn't want to marry Cheryl, at least not anytime soon. And before you jump to conclusions or get all indignant about that, you should know that his explanation actually makes a lot of sense. The former One Direction member has been romantically linked to Cheryl — formerly known as Cheryl Cole — since December 2015. That's when rumors of their relationship first began surfacing, although they didn't go public on social media until March 2016. Just a few months later, Cheryl was spotted with a baby bump, and the rest is history.
Their son, Bear, was born in March 2017, and Payne is in no hurry to take any next steps. The newly-solo former boy bander went on Dan Wootton's Bizarre Life podcast on May 18 to explained why he and Cheryl aren't running down the aisle. As Payne told Wootton, "I see marriage as more of a religious thing and I’m not really a religious person, so I know it’s not really on the cards for me at the moment."
Whether or not your religious beliefs align with Payne's, it's hard to argue with his outlook. Marriage isn't a meaningful institution for him, so he isn't going down that road, at least for the moment. And as he clarifies, that doesn't mean he isn't deeply committed to Cheryl and his infant son. As he said, "We have a baby together. You know our love for each other can’t be more serious, so it is what it is I guess."
Relationships come in all shapes and sizes these days, and Payne and Cheryl have never had a traditional one. They met on the set of X-Factor when Payne was 14 and Cheryl was 24. They knew each other for years before things ever turned romantic, and each had high profile relationships in the meantime. Cheryl's divorce from ex-husband Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini was granted in October 2016, and Payne split with Sophia Smith in 2015. It's understandable that they might just want to be in a relationship that's working without necessarily pushing it to the next level. As long as it's working for the two of them, that's good enough for me.
In a lot of ways, a baby is a much bigger commitment than a marriage, and that's particularly true if you aren't religious. It feels like a good sign to me that Payne wants to focus on Bear instead of making other plans, so let's just leave it at that.
