Liam Payne has opened up about the media scrutiny he and Cheryl receive concerning their relationship.

Speaking to ES Magazine, he said: “The funniest thing was a week before we were getting married. The next week we’re splitting up.

And the thing for me is, I just like to think we’re somewhere in the middle. You know, we have our struggles — like of course I’m not gonna sit here and say that everything’s absolutely fine and dandy, because of course you go through different things, and that’s what a relationship is. 

“But we go through them together as a family and that’s the most important thing for me.

“This part of our relationship was never not going to happen, there was always going to be a little bit of tenseness in the way we sort ourselves out, but tell me a relationship in the world that doesn’t go through a spot like that?

“It’s about whether you make it through or not, together, is the main point there I guess.” 

Payne also spoke about how fortunate he is to be with someone who understands his profession. After all, Cheryl was on the judging panel the day he auditioned for The X Factor, he said: “[I’m] very fortunate that I partnered up with someone who’s … very understanding with what I do. Because I don’t think anybody else could take it.

“It’s difficult, obviously: having someone else who’s so high-profile in the media pushes everything that I do to another level, and I think it’s weird. I feel like the press are more obsessed with it than the nation are, which is quite funny.

“It is about making it work for us, not making it work how people think it should work.”