Liam Payne celebrates son's birthday after revealing relationship 'struggles' with girlfriend Cheryl

Cheryl and One Direction band member Liam Payne are parents to one-year-old Bear. (REUTERS/Eddie Keogh)

One Direction band member Liam Payne and his girlfriend, British pop star Cheryl, took to social media Thursday to celebrate their son's first birthday, as rumors about their relationship swirled.

“Thank you so much for all of your beautiful birthday wishes for Bear,” Cheryl, 34, tweeted, before adding that she “told him he has lots.”

Payne, 24, posted an Instagram photo of himself squeezing Bear's tiny hand.

“Can’t believe my little man is one today, where does the time go? Happy birthday son you’re my world,” he wrote.

The couple's birthday posts come on the heels of Payne speaking about his relationship with Cheryl in an interview with Evening Standard Magazine.

“The funniest thing was a week before we were getting married. The next week we’re splitting up,” Payne explained to the publication. “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.”

Payne added, “We go through them together as a family and that’s the most important thing for me. This part of mine and my missus’s relationship was never not going to happen.”

The photo Payne posted on Thursday offered fans a rare glimpse of little Bear. Nearly a year ago, Cheryl shared a photo of Payne holding their newborn.

"We are all madly in love and overwhelmingly happy with our little arrival," she said at the time.

Payne gushed about his "baby" boy to Evening Standard Magazine, saying he's been trying to keep him out of the view of paparazzi.

“Rather than being pictured and being put in places, I wanna give him the chance [of a life outside of the public eye],” he said. “If I take it away from him now, he never has the chance to go back.”