Cheryl Tweedy dodged a potentially tricky question about her personal life during a ‘BBC Breakfast’ interview on Tuesday (20 February), amid rumours about her relationship with boyfriend Liam Payne.
The former Girls Aloud singer was on the breakfast show to talk about the opening of her youth centre in Newcastle, when presenter Dan Walker turned conversation to recent tabloid speculation about whether the two were about to split.
A report published in The Sun at the weekend claimed Cheryl and former One Direction singer Liam were having crisis talks, with the newspaper claiming it was likely the pair could split within weeks.
Addressing the continued speculation, Dan asked the former ‘X Factor’ judge: “Is a day like this frustrating for you when you’re trying to focus on what you’re doing there when so much of your personal life is in the papers at the moment?”
Cheryl, who is notoriously private, expertly swerved the topic, refusing to address it directly.
“Is it frustrating? No, it doesn’t bother me at all,” she said. “Because my focus is soely on this.
“I’ve waited for seven years to finally be here, and none of that matters. This is the most important part for me.”
The centre, which Cheryl has opened with the help of The Prince’s Trust, aims to help vulnerable young people in her hometown of Newcastle.
She said: “It feels amazing to finally be here. I mean this has been ongoing for years so I’m over the moon to be here.
“This is really a heart thing for me as this is where I’m from. I want to help all over the country but i wanted to start in my own town as I struggled myself as a teen and I don’t know where I’d be now if I hadn’t got out.”
She continued: “Seven years ago I had a big desire to do this and here we are today with the Prince’s Trust. It’s an incredibly vulnerable age and people find themselves in all sorts of problems - self-esteem issues, confidence issues - and they’ve said coming here is the first time they’ve been listened to and the fact that my centre can privide that is amazing to me.”
While Cheryl is currently in Newcastle, Liam is gearing up to perform at the Brit Awards with Rita Ora on Wednesday, where it is likely he will face similar questions about his relationship from journalists at the event.
He and Cheryl got together in late 2015, but they managed to keep their romance under wraps for months before it hit the front pages.
Cheryl gave birth to their son, Bear, in March last year.