One Direction baby: Liam Payne says soon-to-be daddy Louis Tomlinson took news 'super well'

Louis Tomlinson has yet to confirm his foray into fatherhood but his One Direction bandmate Liam Payne has revealed that has taken the news well.

In July, People Magazine broke the news that the 23-year-old singer was expecting a child with Los Angeles-based stylist Briana Jungwirth, just months after he split from his girlfriend of four years, Eleanor Calder.

In an interesting twist, Tomlinson appeared to have predicted the news back in 2012 when he posted an April Fool's Day tweet declaring that he was excited about being a father.

At the time a mutual friend told the magazine that Tomlinson couldn't be happier about having a baby and has vowed to be a "hands-on father".

"Louis is happy and very excited about becoming a dad and he thinks Briana will be an amazing mother. It was a surprise at first, but he and Briana are very, very close friends and this has brought them even closer," the source said.

And now Payne has admitted that, like scores of Directioners, he was taken back by the news.

Speaking to Magic radio's Jo Parkerson, Payne said: "Well obviously I was a bit shocked but he's taken super well to it."

"And he's very excited with what's going on with him at the moment and I feel that stuff like that happens sometimes... he's taking it very seriously.

Payne's comments come days after Simon Cowell also appeared to confirm the news, revealing that he had some stern words for Tomlinson.

"I said to him: 'You man up'," the media mogul told The Sun."'You're fortunate because you're in a position to be able to look after the baby and not worry too much about that.'

"But I also told him: 'I've received bad calls in my life, but this is not one of them. This is your business, but I'm here for you.'"