Cher Lloyd has ignited speculation that her 13-year marriage to Craig Monk is over after flaunting her bare ring finger and telling a fan her wedding ring is 'in the bin'. The 32-year-old Swagger Jagger singer, who rose to fame on The X Factor in 2010, married hairstylist Monk, 35, in secret in November 2013. The couple got engaged after less than a year of dating, having first met when Cher visited a hair salon and embarked on a whirlwind romance.
Fan spots missing ring
The speculation began when Cher shared an Instagram carousel of photos without her sparkling wedding ring. One fan commented, 'I have many questions, where is your wedding ring?' Cher replied bluntly: 'It's in the [bin emoji].' The selection of pictures she shared also suggested the aftermath of the rumoured separation has been anything but pleasant. Captioning the post, 'Slide 5 Vibe', Cher directed followers to the fifth photo, which showed her as a baby, crying and rubbing her eyes.
Relationship history
Cher and Craig are parents to daughters Delilah-Rae, seven, and Eliza Violet, two. Craig also has a daughter from a previous relationship. Opening up about their meeting in a 2014 interview with Metro, Cher admitted it was 'embarrassing'. 'I went to a hair salon to get my hair done just after I got off The X Factor,' she said. 'I wanted to go for a cigarette, but I couldn't go out the front because it was swimming with paparazzi. He was the only one who could take me out the back. So that's where I met him.'
Cher previously praised her husband publicly, telling ITV's Lorraine: 'I'm so lucky. We're definitely a solid team; we deal with anything that's thrown at us. We're so excited to be starting this new journey,' she said while pregnant with her first baby. 'This year we'll be five years married. As soon as I met him, I just knew he was the one straight away.'
Recent heartbreak
The divorce reports come just three months after Cher was left heartbroken by her father Darren's death. Announcing the news in April, Cher wrote: 'Life will never be the same again. I've never felt pain like this. My Dad, I love you. Goodnight 10.03.73 – 11.04.26.' Cher revealed in 2020 that her dad was 'seriously unwell' and had been hospitalised twice during the Covid-19 pandemic due to existing health conditions. She said waiting for him to recover was 'the hardest thing' about that isolation period.
Music career and comeback hints
Cher was a huge personality on The X Factor, finishing in fourth place mentored by Cheryl. She signed with Syco and topped the charts with her debut single, releasing hits like Really Don't Care with Demi Lovato and Oath with Becky G. She performed with Taylor Swift and won awards in America. After her 2014 album Sorry I'm Late, she dipped out of the music scene, with her most recent single being Sweet Devotion with FUZION earlier this year.
However, a comeback may be imminent. When a fan commented 'I dreamed that you are releasing new music soon', Cher replied with a string of suspicious eyes. Another wrote 'Drop some new music tho ??', to which she responded: 'it's comingggg'. In January, Cher spoke exclusively to Metro about a 'hard' few years, saying she had her 'spark back' after regaining her 'confidence' when she left her last label. 'I was signed to a label before, and, as lots of people know, a lot comes along with working alongside a major record label,' she explained. 'When I left that label, I just needed to refocus and find my confidence again. I feel like I was in a bit of a dark place with that.'
Now an independent artist, Cher stated: 'Right now, being able to release music on my own terms… it feels so much better. Wouldn't people rather see me for me than see a version that 15 men in suits have decided I should be?' Reps for Cher Lloyd have been contacted for comment.
