An outpouring of grief swept across the world last week following the shock death of One Direction star Liam Payne. The 31-year-old singer, who shot to fame when the boy band formed on The X Factor in 2010, suffered fatal injuries after tragically falling from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
As details were released, a tragic picture of what happened emerged – with reports saying a hotel worker made a distressed call to emergency services shortly before Liam died, saying a guest who appeared to be under the influence of ‘drugs and alcohol’ was ‘destroying everything in his room.’
In a statement, his devastated family said, ‘We are heartbroken. Liam will forveer live in our hearts and we’ll remember him for his kind, funny and brave soul.’
As well as his family – which includes his mum Karen, dad Geoff, and older sisters Nicola and Ruth – thoughts immediately turned to his ex Cheryl and their seven-year-old son Bear.
Liam and Cheryl, 41, began dating in 2016, and went on to welcome Bear in March 2017. The couple split a year later, but remained on good terms to co-parent their son. Liam praised the Girls Aloud star following their break-up, saying that she was one of the ‘most important people’ in his life.
Opening up about fatherhood, he said, ‘Becoming a dad at such a young age, it’s such a difficult thing. And I think I built fatherhood up so much in my head that it kind of messed me up to start with. I started in a bad place with it. I think it spooked me out early on, and I was just worried I would not be enough to look after both of them. They’re so important to me – Cheryl, as well. She’s one of the most, if not the most, important people in my life. Even though we’re not together, Cheryl’s always there for me. I’m lucky I have someone who understands what I’m going through.’
He added, ‘The one thing I was missing as a man in the relationship was a level understanding about what she was feeling about stuff. I think I learnt through being away that, while I want to protect her, there’s a big part of her that wants to protect me.’
Saying that Cheryl was ‘the best mum in the world,’ he also admitted, ‘I couldn’t ask for someone better. I get to take my son to school one or two times a week and it’s the best thing. The relationship we have now as friends has only grown more. We broke up for a reason and now she gives me full autonomy of my life and to do what I do, and I know Bear’s taken care of. He’s all she cares about and I couldn’t ask for more. They live, like, three minutes from my house.’
Cheryl also previously discussed their co-parenting, saying, ‘I’m the strict one, Liam isn’t. I’ll be the one saying, “Just one square of chocolate.” But Bear is so good. If I get cross with him, he puts his little hands on my face and looks into my eyes to see if I’m deadly serious or a tiny bit cross, and it melts my heart. Liam is much softer than me. But it is what it is, and I’m okay about it.’
The former couple sometimes spent Christmas together as a family, with Liam revealing in 2019, ‘I’m going to go down and see Bear, maybe cook a Christmas dinner and just hang out with family. I like to do Sunday roasts. It brings you back to normality. We’re going to go down and cook some good food and hang out. I think it’s the first time bear really gets Christmas now. I want to see if he actually gets unwrapping presents this year, though, because otherwise, it’ll just be Cheryl by the tree again.’
Liam clearly loved his role as a dad and often spoke proudly about his close bond with Bear. ‘My mum brought all my old toys to the house, and then Cheryl came one day and she was like, “Oh, he’s playing with this red car all the time. It was yours.” I was like, “Is it a Jaguar?” And it was my favourite car when I was young. So he’s literally like a little me,’ he once said.
Speaking about Bear in 2022, Liam revealed, ‘I see him two times a week, three times a week sometimes. And I make sure, when I see him, he has 100 per cent of my time. I make sure that I’m not on my phone or dicking around somewhere else. So, I like to give him those moments and it’s important, he needs that in his life, he needs his dad in his life. I’m happy he looks at me like a superhero, and I’m hoping to keep it that way.’
But despite loving fatherhood, Liam was open about his struggles with his mental health, admitting that he turned to alcohol and drugs to cope at the height of One Direction’s fame. Speaking to Stephen Bartlett on The Diary Of A CEO podcast in 2021, Liam said, ‘I was worried how far my rock bottom was going to be. Where’s rock bottom for me? And you would never have seen it. I’m very good at hiding it. I don’t even know if I have hit it yet. I can either make that choice now and pick my last moment as rock bottom or I can make a whole new low.’
When asked about ‘moments of suicidal ideation,’ Liam continued, ‘There is definitely some stuff I have never spoken about to do with it. It was really, really severe.’
In July last year, Liam revealed he was six months sober after spending 100 days at a US rehab. ‘It’s good to be in this position,’ he said. ‘I definitely don’t need those things.’
But the singer faced a tough time over the past year, after being hospitalised with a kidney infection and having to cancel a planned tour of South America. It was also recently reported that the release of his second album had been put on hold after the failure of comeback single ‘Teardrops.’ It was also reported that his label had subsequently dropped him.
Liam flew to Buenos Aires earlier this month with his girlfriend of two years, Kate Cassidy, where they attended his former bandmate Niall Horan’s concert. The couple had been documenting their trip on social media, but influencer Kate, 25, returned to the US just two days before Liam died. In a video, she revealed that she was ‘so ready to leave’ and ‘needed to go home’ after their five-day-trip got extended.
Liam’s death came shortly after his ex-fiancee Maya Henry made a series of allegations about him. Maya, 23, had issued a cease and desist letter to her ex for allegedly obsessively contacting her and her friends and family. Liam claimed the allegations ‘weren’t true.’ Maya was said to be ‘in shock’ in the wake of his tragic death. RIP, Liam.