X Factor star Cher Lloyd has ignited speculation that her 13-year marriage to Craig Monk is over after flaunting her bare ring finger.
The Swagger Jagger pop star, 32, tied the knot in secret with the hairstylist, 35, in November 2013.
They got engaged after less than a year, having first met when Cher visited a hair salon and embarked on a whirlwind romance.
Cher and Craig are now parents to daughters Delilah-Rae, seven, and Eliza Violet, two. Craig also has a daughter from a previous relationship.
While the performer frequently shares snaps from her personal life online, the latest have raised eyebrows after fans spotted her without her sparkling ring in an Instagram carousel.
‘I have many questions, where is your wedding ring?’, one fan commented under the post.
Cher replied: ‘It’s in the [bin emoji]’.
The selection of pics she shared suggested that the aftermath of the rumoured separation hasn’t been pleasant either.
Captioning the post, ‘Slide 5 Vibe’, Cher directed her followers to the fifth photo, which showed her as a baby, crying and rubbing her eyes.
Opening up previously about her relationship, Cher admitted to Metro that it was ’embarrassing’ how she and Craig met.
‘I went to a hair salon to get my hair done just after I got off The X Factor,’ she began in a 2014 interview. ‘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 later praised her other half publicly over the years, telling ITV’s Lorraine that he was ‘lovely’.
‘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.’
The divorce reports come just three months after Cher was left heartbroken by her father Darren’s death.
Announcing the devastating news in April, Cher, who rose to fame as a teenager on Simon Cowell’s talent show in 2010, 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’.
She voiced her fears for him during the Covid-19 pandemic due to his existing health conditions, which led to him being hospitalised twice during lockdowns.
Cher said waiting for him to recover so they could be reunited was ‘the hardest thing’ about that isolation period.
The Want U Back singer penned at the time: ‘I’m sorry I’ve been quiet on here – I find it difficult to share my personal life at the best of times but I feel I need to let you know what’s going on. My dad has been seriously unwell and is in hospital.’
‘This has been really difficult on us and my heads all over the place. I wish I could see him and I wish I could be with my family to support them, especially mum.
‘We can’t be with dad but I’m so grateful to the doctors and nurses for looking after him. This is such a scary time for everyone. I hope you are keeping safe.’
Cher was a huge personality on The X Factor and emerged from the programme with a legion of fans after finishing in fourth place, mentored by Cheryl.
After signing a record deal with Syco, she topped the charts with her debut single and released a slew of hits, including collaborations Really Don’t Care with Demi Lovato and Oath with Becky G.
Her glittering pop career saw her perform live with Taylor Swift and win awards in America.
Cher then dipped out of the music scene and has only sporadically released tunes for the past 12 years, her last record being 2014’s Sorry I’m Late. Her most recent single was Sweet Devotion with FUZION earlier this year.
However, it looks like a new era could be upon her, as she teased a comeback after alluding to the end of her marriage.
‘I dreamed that you are releasing new music soon ❤️’, a fan commented underneath her post, which she replied to with a string of suspicious eyes.
‘Drop some new music tho 👀🥰’, wrote another, to which she responded: ‘it’s comingggg’.
Last January, Cher spoke exclusively to Metro about a ‘hard’ few years as she declared she now had her ‘spark back’ and was ready to start putting out new tracks 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.’
She’s spent recent years ‘figuring out’ her sound, finding it ‘therapeutic’ to be writing again.
Now an independent artist, Cher stated proudly: ‘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.