NAOMI AND LIAM: IT’S ON!
ARE YOU READY FOR, er, ‘Liomi’? Rumours began that Naomi Campbell and Liam Payne might be ‘a thing’ after they started flirting on Instagram last month. Commenting on a selfie posted by Naomi, the One Direction star said ‘Beautiful soul’, to which the supermodel replied ‘ Takes one to know one’. Liam, 25, also unabashedly wrote ‘perfection in a person… don’t give me those eyes’ under another selfie that Naomi, 48, posted during Paris Fashion Week. After the internet had pulled its jaw off the floor, it was reported that the pair had been ‘seeing a lot of each other’ over the course of two months. Then it was revealed that the couple had been in Ghana together, with pictures surfacing last week showing the pair eating together in a restaurant. (Fans later reportedly saw them in London attending a Davido Adeleke concert together.) According to a well-placed source, the couple are now officially on. ‘Naomi thinks Liam is adorable and can’t get enough of him,’ one told Grazia Grazia. ‘She’s enjoying the fevered attention they’ve been getting. She also thinks it works for their individual brands and they complement each other perfectly. But beneath all that, Naomi genuinely cares about Liam. She’s even insisted they share their schedules so they spend as much time together as possible.’
The news comes six months after Liam broke up with pop star Cheryl, with whom he has an 11-month-old son, Bear. Their split after two years together was initially acrimonious, but now they are apparently friendly. Last month, Cheryl insisted there was ‘no animosity whatsover’ and revealed that ‘Liam spent Christmas Day with us’.
Meanwhile, Naomi dated rapper Skepta for a few months last year – the couple starred in a very intimate shoot with GQ, but broke up shortly after. Liam knows that Naomi is ‘used to dating billionaires’ ( Vladimir Doronin gifted her an island holiday home for her birthday), so he’s ‘still quite intimated by her and can’t believe how well things are going’, said our source.
‘But Naomi isn’t interested in Liam’s money or extravagant gifts, she finds him charming. If Liam feels out of his depth then he isn’t showing it much, he holds his own and keeps his cool around her.’
Liam’s team are also said to be supportive of the new romance. ‘ They all think it’s great for his credibility,’ said another source. ‘A high-profile relationship with someone like Naomi could help keep up the momentum for his solo career. Naomi gives Liam a bit of edge and he loves that.’
Meanwhile, the source close to Naomi revealed, ‘She’s told friends she hasn’t been this excited for another man in a long while.’ Watch this space…