Liam Payne Called Out For Saying He Was A 'Hot' 14-Year-Old After Explaining How He Pulled Cheryl Cole

Rewind all the way back to 2010. Lady Gaga had walked down the red carpet in a literal meat dress, Wills and Kate had just put a ring on it... and a 14-year-old Liam Payne met Cheryl Cole for the first time.

"Listen, when I was 14 I was hot... just kidding," he joked to host Paul this week.

"There's a bigger part of the story... What happened in one of my auditions is that they put a female judge in front of me and I had to make myself stand out – half way through the song I winked at her.

"Don't judge me.

"So, like I went back to school the day after [I'd] winked at Cheryl in the audition and my friends had gone 'what the f**king hell do you think you're doing winking at Cheryl Cole on TV?'."

Explaining the whole thing 'came naturally', the ex One Direction bandmate added: "And then fast forward years later we ended up having a baby together."

When asked how 'much of it do you attribute to that wink?', he replied: "I guess it is a registered weapon – I have to check it in.

"It's the weirdest how I met your mother story ever because she was the judge on the show – I had a hole in my shoe at the time."

Cheryl and Liam first went public with their relationship back in 2016 after eagle-eyed fans spotted the pair together in a local supermarket.

Just a year later they welcomed their son Bear, before calling quits on their romance in 2018. Liam was quick to praise his ex, however, telling Paul: "It all worked out great and she's the best mum in the world."

Safe to say, fans were less than impressed with the remarks, with one writing: "It’s just weird like even if it is a joke why would you joke about that."

Meanwhile, another said: "it makes me uncomfortable like he clearly isn’t being serious but I really hate that he said that and didn’t make it obviously clear that they came in contact again until years later."

A third added: "Did he say anything not weird as sh*t in this interview bc everything i'm seeing is ????"

Elsewhere in the episode, Liam spoke of his ex bandmate Zayn Malik, telling Paul: "“If I had to go through what he went through -- with his growth and whatever else... My parents are overly supportive to the point where it's annoying at times. Zayn had a different upbringing in that sense.

"You can always look at the man for where he is and say, 'Oh yeah, whatever, that guy's a d**k.' But at the end of the day, once you're understanding what he's been through to get to that point -- and also whether or not he wanted to be there.”