Perrie Edwards has revealed Cheryl became her ‘agony aunt’ when she split from ex-fiancé Zayn Malik.
The Little Mix star, 32, who is now engaged to footballer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, previously got engaged to One Direction star Zayn in 2013, but they split two years later.
And in a new interview with The iPaper, Perrie explained that at the time: ‘I had a lot of demons, a lot of s**t to deal with, but for me sometimes coping with it under the radar is a bit easier.
‘[Girls Aloud’s] Cheryl was my agony aunt.’
Perrie and Cheryl, who both come from Newcastle, struck up a friendship when Cheryl was a judge on the X Factor, and they have both been through the mill with their public splits.
Cheryl later dated Zayn’s bandmate Liam Payne, who tragically fell to his death on October 16 last year while in a hotel in Buenos Aires.
Perrie Edwards has revealed Cheryl became her ‘agony aunt’ when she split from ex-fiancé Zayn Malik
The Little Mix star, 32, and Cheryl, 42, struck up a friendship when Cheryl was a judge on the X Factor, and they have both been through the mill with their public splits
Cheryl and Liam started dating in 2016, and welcomed their son Bear the following year. However, they announced their breakup in 2018.
Perrie previously praised Cheryl for being a good pal in her time of need.
She told The Sun on Sunday: ‘Cheryl is incredible. She has been a very good friend to me, particularly recently.
‘She is the nicest person in the world. She knows what we’ve gone through and has great advice.’
Just last month, Perrie revealed she escaped a ‘toxic’ relationship with her ex-fiancé Zayn that left her thinking she ‘didn’t want to meet anybody.’
She shared the insight into her ‘first love’ in a hard-hitting interview with Paul C Brunson on his We Need To Talk podcast.
Reflecting on her dating history, Perrie, who did not name her ex-partner, admitted that behaviour in her ‘first relationship’ left her fearing the ‘pain’ of meeting someone new, as she was led to believe their actions were ‘normal.’
The singer previously got engaged to One Direction star Zayn Malik in 2013, but they split two years later.
Perrie got engaged to the One Direction star in 2013, but they split two years later
Elsewhere during the interview, Perrie revealed how Tulisa Contostavlos tried to stop Little Mix from being sexualised on The X Factor
She said: ‘I think definitely at the time I thought everything we experienced in our relationship was normal.
‘Because it was my first relationship, first love. I was like, ‘Oh, this is how it’s supposed to feel. It’s supposed to feel a little bit toxic. In some ways, this is probably normal, right?’
‘And then when I became single, I was almost thinking, like, I never, ever want to go through that again. I didn’t even want to meet anybody. I was like, that’s me done. I don’t think I could bear that pain.’
Perrie is now expecting her second child. She is already mum to son Axel with her fiancé Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
‘But now, reflecting back, I’m thinking, oh, that probably wasn’t good. And I’ve noticed it a lot.
‘Like in the start of the relationship, I would handle things differently with Alex, and he’d come at it with such a level head that it would throw me.’
Elsewhere during the interview, Perrie revealed how Tulisa Contostavlos tried to stop Little Mix from being sexualised on The X Factor.
The girl band were mentored on The X Factor by Tulisa, who was only 23 at the time herself.
Perrie is now expecting her second child with fiance Alex. She is already mum to son Axel with her fiancé Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
And Perrie credits Tulisa with insulating them from the horror stories that so many X Factor contestants come away with.
She explained: ‘It was the most stressful experience of my life. It was an emotional rollercoaster, there was no rest, we were very overworked.’
‘We just thought if we said no to anything, we’d get booted off the show. We were so terrified of upsetting anybody. We walked on eggshells all the time. We said yes to everything.’
‘She didn’t think we should be dressing overtly sexy. We wanted to be like the girls next door and just be ourselves. Tulisa always fought our corner there, so we didn’t have to do anything that made us feel uncomfortable.’
