Liam Payne claims he and Cheryl ‘rubbed off on each other in a bad way’ as relationship struggled

LIAM Payne has claimed he and ex-girlfriend Cheryl "rubbed off on each other in a bad way" before their split last year.

The singer, 26, gave an insight into the former couple's relationship in an appearance on Jessie Ware's Table Manners podcast.

He explained: "I think we kind of rubbed off on each other a little bit in that way. In a bad way, actually. All of that stuff puts so much pressure on a relationship.

"For her, if you were going out somewhere, it would take so long to get out of the door because you're just so worried."

Liam clearly enjoyed the chat with Jessie and her mum Lennie, sharing a snap of the trip on Instagram and writing: "Thank you @JessieWare and Lennie for inviting me to your house and cooking me dinner. It was really nice to sit down and have a proper chat about music, food and life."

Yesterday it was revealed Liam and Cheryl kept the charade of their relationship going until July last year — five months after we revealed they had split.

Liam finally confessed we were correct and they had already broken up before they walked the red carpet together at the Brit Awards in February.

Asked when they separated, he said it was around the release of his steamy single with Rita Ora, For You, which came out in January 2018.

He said: “We broke up around For You, actually, which is quite interesting.” Going on to praise Rita, Liam added: “It was great, I really enjoyed making it.

“It was a lot of fun. She’s great to work with as well. I don’t know anyone who works harder.”

However, Cheryl has denied the real date of the split, with a rep for the star saying: "The couple 100 per cent split in July 2018 as was well documented."

Rita and Liam delivered a raunchy ­performance of the track at the Brits, which Cheryl watched from the audience while insisting there were no cracks in their relationship.

Opening up about what went wrong, Liam admitted he and the former Girls Aloud singer had been struggling to even leave the house together because they were constantly recognised.

But Liam, who is now loved up with model Maya Henry, said he is in a better place after his time in One Direction.

Speaking about the band, he said: “We were definitely overworked. I had no personal life, I learnt nothing about myself.

“I remember getting to therapy and the guy was like, ‘What do you like to do?’

“I haven’t got a clue. I just lived so long as this reclusive pop star who was afraid of people, who just stayed inside all the time. I needed to stop, definitely. It would have killed me.”

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