Piers Morgan has apologised to Cheryl Tweedy for mocking her recent split from Liam Payne on Good Morning Britain.
The presenter admitted in his column for the Mail On Sunday that he had been “scathing about the ridiculously saccharine separation statement” the pair published on their respective Twitter accounts at the beginning of July.
The statement read: “We are sad to announce that we are going our separate ways. It’s been a tough decision for us to make. We still have so much love for each other as a family. Bear is our world and we ask that you respect his privacy as we navigate our way through this together.”
This prompted Piers to rant to his co-host Susanna Reid at the time: “It’s always weird when celebrity couples split up saying they have so much love for each other.
“If they love each other that much, why are they splitting up? They should be more honest and just say, ‘We hate each other’.”
Now Piers, 53, has revealed Cheryl text him after the show to challenge his criticism of how she’d handled her break-up from the Bedroom Floor singer.
Piers revealed: “Cheryl texted me: ‘I’m so sorry you didn’t like my statement, Piers – perhaps I should have texted you the intimate details in chronological order as it unfolded.'”
The former tabloid editor admitted he felt a “sudden rare pang of guilt that I’d been a bit harsh on her” so he quickly replied with an apology, telling her: “Sorry. I didn’t mean it the way it sounded.”
However, he added in his column that in fact he did mean it “exactly the way it sounded!”
Fortunately, he said the former Girls Aloud star also agreed with him, as she text him again to say: “I’m just messing. I hate those kinds of statements too, so cringeworthy. But we don’t hate each other. It just didn’t work out.”
Cheryl and Liam announced their separation after months of speculation that their relationship was on the rocks.
The pair, who have an 11-year age gap, got together in early 2016 and welcomed baby Bear in March 2017.
Speculation that they would split started at the beginning of the year as Liam was spending large periods away from home promoting his solo material.
They put on a united front at February’s BRIT Awards to silence their doubters, but later confirmed they would indeed be going their separate ways.
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Cheryl made her first public appearance after the split this month at a summer party Simon Cowell held at the V&A Museum.
Piers also attended the event where he once again tried to smooth over his comments on her separation as they posed for a photo together.
He said he asked her: “Need a shoulder to cry on?” to which the fiesty Geordie retorted: “I won’t be doing any crying, Piers, and even if I did, yours would be the last shoulder I’d do it on.”
Do you agree with Piers on Cheryl and Liam’s statement or was he too harsh? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think!