WENN

Former One Direction star Liam Payne has urged the media to stop linking him with every woman he’s photographed with in the wake of his split from pop star Cheryl.

The singer insists he can handle the speculation but he fears the gossip and chatter about his love life is demeaning to his friends and co-workers.

Liam was romantically linked to another “mystery” girl on Thursday, when he arrived at London’s Rosewood Hotel with an unidentified woman, and now he has taken to social media to set the record straight about his love life.

The pop star tweets: “Isn’t it time we treat women with a bit more respect?”

He then addressed the photos of his latest “love interest”, which appeared in the Daily Mail, revealing the woman in the pictures is a colleague.

“My team is full of talented, smart professional women,” he rages. “I find it wrong that they are reduced to being linked to me romantically in the press just for simply standing next to me.

Fans quickly responded to Liam’s tweet, taking to social media to thank him for speaking up.

One wrote: “We need more people like you in the music industry to call out articles when they are wrong, and address the situation directly. So proud of you Liam, thank you”, while another added: “as a woman who wants to work in the music industry, I appreciate and thank you speaking out about this. women in the industry are always reduced to band members’ girlfriends or groupies. these hardworking women deserve more respect!!!”

Liam and Cheryl, the mother of his son Bear, split in July after dating for over two years. Since the break-up, he has been romantically linked to a handful of women.