She’s made no secret of her dream for a large family, but last week Cheryl gave a refreshingly honest interview about her plans to give her five-year- old son Bear a sibling.
The Girls Aloud singer – who just before the pandemic had said she was planning to use a sperm donor – now says she’s no longer set on having another child, because there would be a bigger age gap with Bear, who she shares with ex Liam Payne. And sources tell heat that she is trying to get used to the idea that her family life just isn’t how she imagined.
Our source explains, “Cheryl had hoped to have more children, and would still love more. But life happened in its own way – being single, COVID, a career hiatus – and she’s still trying to figure it out. When she looks at Bear, she feels so torn.
"They exist in this perfect little world where it’s just them, and then her mum, Liam, his parents, her siblings and all the cousins are all part of his orbit, too. There are times when she desperately wants to give Bear a sibling, because she worries that life will be so lonely for him when he grows up.
"But she also worries that adding a child to the family might really turn things upside down for him. She really doesn’t know what the right thing to do is and hates that there is no one else who can give her the answers.”
The 39 year old, who’s been wowing audiences with her West End debut in play 2:22 A Ghost Story, revealed last week in an interview to promote her performance, “I was so hell-bent on having another [baby] before, because Bear was at that perfect age. I think if you have that couple of years age gap, you can still do things with them together where they’re both engaged and both interested. Now that the pandemic happened in the meantime, and there’s such an age gap, and I’m a bit older, I’m not so sure, honestly.”
The Geordie – who’s been single since she split from former One Direction hitmaker Liam in 2018, after two years together – admitted she had thought about adoption, adding, “I just love babies and children and I’d do anything to help or have another one around, but it’s not as prevalent any more.” She also voiced her fear that the world is “a bit crazy” to bring another child into.
And while Cheryl is undecided whether to go down the adoption route, we’re told the idea of doing it solo is a big spanner in the works. “She feels like there’s a ticking clock, because of her upcoming 40th birthday,” the insider adds. “With adoption, the question she has asked herself over and over is whether she would be willing to do it on her own. She just feels it would be too lonely and too stressful.”
And now we’re told that it’s a case of head versus heart when it comes to what’s next. heat’s source explains, “Cheryl feels like the last few years have been so crazy. She is now throwing herself back into her career, and she knows it’s a struggle to be a working single parent. She has a great support system in place, but it’s not the same. It really frustrates her, because she knows that if she had a partner then it would just be a natural progression.”
The source adds, “Her heart tells her to be brave and have more children, but her head puts all the obstacles in the way.”