Liam Payne reveals who hooked him up with Cheryl

The One Direction heartthrob Liam Payne has revealed that Simon Cowell and Niall Horan were the ones who played the part of matchmakers and set him up with Cheryl.

Strip That Down singer has said that he would never have hooked up with his partner if it wasn't for the meddling of his band mate and the boss of record label Syco Music.

"It just came about one day. Niall came up to me and said, 'You'll never guess who's got a crush on you?' And I was like, 'Who?' He's like, 'Cheryl'," the 23-year-old told Radio 1Xtra.

Payne admitted he was surprised on hearing that the 33-year-old songstress had a crush on him.

"Niall hooked it up. Simon kind of half hooked it up," he said.

"I was saying something about Cheryl one night in (Simon's) house, and he was like, 'I think I know who is going to be the future Mrs Payne', and I was like 'Who are you on about?' He was like, 'I'm not telling you, you'll have to wait and see'."

Payne then said that Cowell embarrassed Cheryl as he told her that Payne fancied her.

"She left the room bright red. Then Niall told me this whole story and I was like, woah. (They) played cupid. If you ever need anything hooking up, those are your boys," he said.

Payne and Cheryl share a baby boy named Bear, who the couple welcomed this March. When asked if they will ever get married, Payne said he is not sure if they will get married as he is "not a religious person".

When asked if he gets annoyed when people call his partner 'Cheryl Cole', he replied, "Her name is officially Cheryl Tweedy now, but to be honest it doesn't really bother me, we have a kid together, there's a lot more to our life."

Cheryl had changed her surname to Cole when she married footballer Ashley Cole in 2006 and then she became Cheryl Fernandez-Versini after she married Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini in 2014.