Perrie Edwards has spoken of her delight that her good friend Cheryl Fernandez-Versini has found love with Liam Payne – even though he’s a member of One Direction.

The ‘X Factor’ judge and the 1D star surprised fans when they confirmed the rumours that had been swirling around over the last month, saying that they had been dating in secret since the end of last year. Of course, Little Mix singer Perrie used to date Liam’s former bandmate Zayn Malik until last summer, before things ended very messily with Zayn suddenly breaking off their engagement and moving to America.

However, she’s told The Mirror in a new interview that she’s pleased that her friend Cheryl is “happy” now that she’s found her new man.

Cheryl Fernandez-Versini Liam PayneCheryl Fernandez-Versini and Liam Payne have been dating since the end of last year

“Cheryl is a good friend of mine. She wants to do whatever makes her happy. I’m happy for her, whatever makes her happy I think is fine.”

More: Cheryl is worried that mounting press scrutiny could ruin her relationship with Liam

Liam confirmed at the end of February that he and Cheryl, 32, were indeed in a relationship, following a series of cryptic social media posts from both of them and several weeks or ‘are they / aren’t they’ gossip.

Perrie and the former Girls Aloud star have supported each other in their respective times of need, as Cheryl was going through the process of breaking up with her second husband, French restauranteur Jean-Bernard, at the end of last year.

Last month, the 22 year old singer told The Sun: “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.”

Perrie has been busy touring with Little Mix since her own break-up last summer, keeping her love life secret in comparison to her former fiancé, who is now dating supermodel Gigi Hadid.

More: Cheryl Fernandez-Versini assures us she’s never trying to be ‘cryptic’ with Instagram posts