They graced the Cannes red carpet together in 2015, and now Jean Bernard Fernandez-Versini admits a run-in with ex-wife Cheryl wouldn’t be “weird”, ahead of her return to the film festival this year as a brand ambassador for L’Oreal.
Cheryl, 34, who now has a one-year-old son Bear with partner Liam Payne, missed the festival last year as she’d just given birth, but she’s back in Cannes this year.
During an interview with Good Morning Britain from Cannes, Jean Bernard revealed he is currently ‘single’, and tried to dismiss any potential run-in with Cheryl as in ‘the same box’ as bumping into other ex-girlfriends.
Read more: Liam Payne interrupts Cheryl in the LOO during live radio interview
“I’ve been in Cannes for 15 years. I’ve come to Cannes with three ex-girlfriends, so it just goes into the same box, nothing weird,” he said.
Jean-Bernard, nicknamed ‘Mr Cannes’, also added that in the coming years he is hoping to meet The One, and to bring her to the festival, too.
“Another year with a future girlfriend, and hopefully this one will be the right one,” he explained.
After previously admitting his divorce had been a ‘complicated time’, Jean-Bernard has said he is ready to find love again.
“Right now, after quite a while of solving a lot of personal problems, I’m in a very happy place and open now to starting something new,” he said.
And This Morning correspondent Alison Hammond seems to have caught his eye!
The smooth-talker told Alison, “I hear you and me are going to get on so much”, to which Alison propositioned, “I hear you’re single? I’m single.”
She also took the opportunity to ask him whether he would be ‘linking up’ with ex Cheryl, to which he replied, “no”, offering to leave the party with Alison instead.
The interview follows Jean-Bernard’s interview at last year’s Cannes – just a couple of months after Cheryl had given birth to Bear.
When asked by the ITV show’s celebrity correspondent Richard Arnold if he had a message for “Cheryl, now that she’s had her baby?”, Jean Bernard quickly swerved the question altogether.
“Do you know what? It’s the 70th anniversary of the festival, so we may as well focus on that. It’s the first time with my venture here, and I just want to make this count, and make it big,” he replied.
When the screen panned back to GMB host Susanna Reid, the presenter squirmed in her seat, dubbing the interview ‘#awks’.
Cheryl and Jean Bernard were together for just three months before tying the knot on the island of Mustique in July 2014.
They were married for just 18 months before splitting.
The former couple’s divorce was finalised in October 2016, five months before Cheryl welcomed her son with Liam.
Read more: David Beckham reveals ‘heartbreak over sons’ decisions
The restaurateur, who first met Cheryl through his pop-up bar Cosy Box in Cannes, opened restaurant ‘Versini’ last year, which is set to be visited by several celebrities.
Will his future wife be among them?
Do you agree that a run-in with Cheryl ‘wouldn’t be weird’? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think!