Liam Payne was in high spirits in the days before his death as he laughed and joked around with fans, posed for photos and signed autographs in Buenos Aires.
Videos posted on TikTok showed the former One Direction star meeting well-wishers while in Argentina’s capital before his death at the Casa Sur Hotel yesterday.
In one clip, a man named Guillo told Payne that he ‘saved my life in so many ways’ and showed the 31-year-old how he had got the same tattoos inked on his body.
Payne hugged Guillo and said it was a ‘pleasure’ to meet him and thanked him for his kind words, saying they could take some ‘cool pictures’ and asking for his ‘nombre’.
In a second clip, Payne signed an autograph for a woman, asking the gathered crowd for the Spanish word for ‘pen’ because he didn’t have one. When they replied ‘lapicera’, he joked: ‘I feel like you’re trying to make me say something rude.’
The cheery persona came despite a string of worrying signs that Payne’s life had spiralled out of control, with his fans fearing for his health in recent years.
Payne was reported to have been acting erratically hours before his death, and his inner circle were recently said to be fearful for his welfare.
It followed a series of concerning displays including an erratic red carpet appearance, shock hospitalisation, cancelled gigs and rambling videos.
Fans had noted his bizarre behaviour during recent appearances, which included attending his former Niall Horan’s gig in Argentina on October 2 where he was asked to stop dancing by a security guard.
Another worrying video showed Payne looking strained as he greeted fans, signing autographs and singing his song Familiar, as critics commented on the clip that he looked ‘out of it’.
Below, CHARLOTTE DEAN looks at the worrying signs Payne’s life had spiralled out of control:
WORRYING CLIPS DAYS BEFORE DEATH
Just days before his death, Liam was filmed at Niall’s concert dancing erratically and being spoken to by a security guard as he gesticulated wildly in his private box.
The video, which has been widely shared on TikTok, shows Liam performing to fans in front of him at the concert before being spoken to the guard.
Liam was leading a macarena routine before the gig started, but worried fans noted how the guard was trying to ‘move him on’.
Fans have now called his behaviour a sad cry for help by the star.
One user in the comments section wrote: ‘This was a cry for help I’m sure of it,’ while another agreed and replied: ‘Finally now people are saying this but it’s too late.’
Another social media clip shows Liam greeting fans in Argentina, singing songs and singing autographs for them.
However, it didn’t go unnoticed by social media sleuths that Liam appeared out of sorts during the appearance as they voiced their fears for the star.
In the comments section of the post, fans shared their sadness that the ‘signs were there’ before Liam’s untimely passing.
They said: ‘Bruh the signs were there’; ‘He looks so sad inside, but you all make him feel so loved and appreciated’; ‘Imagine meeting him on the day before he passes away, I’m sobbing’; and ‘You can literally see the sadness, the pain and depression in his eyes. Reminds me of my friend before she passed away.’
RAMBLING VIDEO
Earlier this month, Liam shared a bizarre video on his Snapchat, where he claimed he and his One Direction bandmate Niall ‘needed to talk’.
Sharing a video from bed, Liam spoke about how he was going to see Niall in concert in Argentina, saying: ‘Niall Horan’s playing down there and I think we might just go and say ‘Elloooo!’.
He continued: ‘No bad vibes or anything like that, but we need to talk!’
Commenting on the video, one fan said: ‘Is he okay? Like genuinely?’
This one was concerned: ‘I hope Liam has people who care about him around him.’
A source said to The Sun: ‘Liam’s behaviour has been concerning many in his inner circle for months. For a while things seemed to be looking up for him but over the past year there are fears he is spiralling.
‘He’s no longer around some of his old friends as he’s relocated to America to start a new life out there.’
‘Everyone wants the best for him but things are erratic to say the least.’
CANCELLED GIGS AFTER BEING HOSPITALISED
Last year, Liam’s fans shared their concern after he cancelled his tour of South America after being hospitalised with a kidney infection.
He shared the news with his followers in an Instagram video, after being ordered to ‘rest and recover’ by doctors.
Captioning the post, Liam wrote: ‘It’s with a heavy heart I have to tell you that we have no other choice but to postpone my upcoming tour of South America.
‘Over the past week I’ve been in hospital with a serious kidney infection, it’s something I wouldn’t wish on anyone, and doctors orders are that I now need to rest and recover.
‘I was beyond excited to come play for you guys. To all of you who have bought tickets: I’m so sorry.
‘We’re working to re-schedule the tour as soon as we possibly can, but for now we will be refunding the tickets – so please look out for updates from your point of purchase.
‘Thanks as always for the love and support, and look forward to seeing you soon.’
Sharing a video to announce the news, Liam added: ‘This really is the last news I want to be telling you but basically I’ve been a little bit unwell recently.
‘I ended up in hospital with a bad kidney infection. We started rehearsals and I’ve been advised that now is really not the right time to be travelling on the road while I recover from this.
‘I’ve got the best people around me at home trying to help me recover as we speak, but yeah we’re gonna have to reschedule the tour.’
Following the news about his condition, his mother Karen shared that she felt ‘helpless’ and was ‘worried sick’.
She told at the time: ‘We are all worried sick about it but we just have to get on. It’s horrible – him being all the way over there.
‘He’s in Milan and it sounds like he’ll be there for a week. I feel helpless.’
She continued: ‘All we can really do is sit it out here and hope for the best. There is nothing we can do. We feel helpless.’
Karen added that it was ‘such a horrible situation’ and that she hopes he’s in the best place for treatment.
ERRATIC RED CARPET DISPLAY
In recent years, the singer has suffered a series of bizarre onscreen appearances, most famously, a strange interview after the 2022 Academy Awards when he was asked about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock on stage.
He was speaking live from the red carpet at the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s annual Academy Awards viewing party at West Hollywood Park where he defended his friend Will Smith for slapping Chris Rock earlier in the night.
However, the exchange left viewers scratching their heads when he debuted a ‘valley’ twang – before admitting he hadn’t even been on US soil for two years.
In a video posted to Twitter only six days prior to promote Unicef’s Soccer Aid, the Night Changes hitmaker speaks with a notably British accent.
Weighing in on the controversy, Liam claimed how there had been ‘three losers in one fight’, adding, ‘He had the right to do what he did’.
He also reminisced on his friendship with the two men, revealing that Will had been his neighbour and claiming he had known Chris since he was a teenager.
Not only did his words confuse viewers as his analysis of the situation was broadcast on UK morning television; but his accent too.
Viewers at home rushed to their keyboards to share their surprise at Liam’s twang, writing, ‘OMG what is this accent? Sort it out Liam, cringe [laughing emoji].’
‘What’s with the accent and what was he actually saying? Rambling word salad.’
‘The Accent Police are out in full force over this clip.’
The clip quickly generated just as much interest as the onstage slap itself as Liam found himself at the centre of an internet storm.
He later clarified he’d had ‘a lot to drink’ on the night in question; but added he is a ‘social chameleon’ whose accent is ‘ever-changing’ depending on who he is around, before insisting he is normally ‘good at accents’.
INTERVIEW BACKLASH
During the interview on the Impaulsive first recorded in the summer of 2022, Liam again worried fans when he took aim at his former bandmate Zayn Malik, causing enough backlash he revealed he did not leave his home for three months.
He suggested his solo career had been the most successful of all the band members and also claimed One Direction was formed around him in the first place.
When asked for his thoughts about Zayn, Liam branded him a ‘d***’ and discussed a post by Malik’s then-girlfriend Gigi Hadid about how her partner was ‘respectful’.
The comment has been interpreted by fans as a reference to the allegation that Gigi’s mother Yolanda Hadid made last year, that Zayn had shoved her into a dresser and called her a ‘f***ing Dutch sl*t’.
Liam continued to talk about Zayn, saying there were ‘many reasons why I dislike Zayn’ but that he will ‘always be on his side’ because of Zayn’s alleged tough upbringing.
He said: ‘There’s many reasons why I dislike Zayn and there’s many reasons why I’ll always, always be on his side.
‘If I had had to go through what he went through, through his growth and whatever else. You know are your parents very supportive?
‘My parents are overly supportive to the point where it’s annoying at times and they don’t even mind me saying that. And Zayn had a different upbringing in that sense.’
Although he appeared to claim he had sympathy with Zayn and cared for the ex-One Direction member, he received enormous backlash from fans over his comments.
The criticism was so fierce that Liam tweeted a public apology to Zayn later that year, saying he had a ‘chip on my shoulder’ and ‘took it out on everyone else’.
He added that he ‘loves my boys’ appearing to refer to the One Direction members – Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Zayn and Louis.
Liam said that the criticism had led to things going ‘quite dark’ for him and that he didn’t leave his house for three months, but that he was able to laugh at the jokes.
SUICIDAL THOUGHTS
In July 2023, Liam opened up about his mental health and revealed doctors diagnosed him with ‘a couple of conditions’ after he spent some time in a wellness clinic in the US last year after hitting ‘rock bottom’.
He shared a candid Instagram post to his Story in which he said he was having a tough day and family and friends could see he was still struggling.
Liam described ‘manic’ instances in his life and his difficulty in staying sober during ‘super low’ moments.
In the clip he admitted to having filmed the video numerous times before deleting it, before finally deciding this was the right time to share his story with his fans.
He said: ‘So I mean I filmed a bunch for theses over time and deleted them but I don’t know whether this is the right time.’
‘I know in my last video I mentioned I’d been diagnosed with a couple of conditions and I will not to go into too much detail, but one of them I have is, there’s a lot of manic things in my life which you guys saw.’
He continued: ‘But the other side of it is and that kind of feels like when when I would lose my sobriety in these moments that were super low and I felt like that today.
‘And it’s isolating the two things and seeing them separately and like I know what they are now’.
‘Luckily I have some amazing people around me that kind of look after me but I am sure they can see it in me too that I’m ‘not really here.”’
He captioned the clip: ‘I’ve filmed this same video about 20 times at different points this year and got too scared to put it out by talking myself out of it’.
‘I’m coming to see how fortunate I am to be in the position I’m in… and I wanna give any of you struggling the gift I was given by sharing some of the things I learned form specialists whilst I was away’.
‘First thing I did everyday was check in and its important you don’t bottle up how you feel. Feeling is one of the amazing gifts we had and I blocked things up so long it made me sick and lash out… notice it, allow it to happen and let it pass through. I hope this helps,’ he concluded.
It wasn’t the first time Liam had been candid about his mental health struggles after previously opening up in 2019 about battling suicidal thoughts.
At the time he claimed he was ‘lucky to still be here’.
He appeared on Straight Talking with Ant Middleton, where he opened up about his mental health and fame.
When asked about his ‘darker’ moments, Liam said: ‘Fame is like having a weird midlife crisis. I am lucky to be here still.’
Asked by Ant to elaborate, Liam was reluctant at first. ‘I can’t go too deep into it, I haven’t made my peace with it…’ he said.
‘There’s times where that level of loneliness and people getting into you every day every so often… that’s almost nearly killed me a couple of times.
‘I’ve been in a bad place… it’s been on the menu a couple of times in my life. Luckily I had great people around me. When things start to pile up on you it can get you, and you can only control you. You have to get on with it
‘You think there’ll be another hurdle in a couple of months, you just need to get on with it. It’s always turned out alright, even in the darkest situations.’
Who is Liam Payne’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy? A look into the One Direction singer’s love after shock death
Liam Payne’s shocking death at 31 has put the spotlight on his girlfriend Kate Cassidy.
The influencer, 25, was pictured with the late One Direction singer in his final Snapchat post, which was shared just minutes before his tragic death after falling from his hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at around 5pm local time on Wednesday.
Payne and Cassidy had been an inseparable couple for around two years before his story came to a shocking end.
Despite some bumps along the road, the two appear to have been together until Payne’s final moments.
Now DailyMail.com takes a look at Payne’s final girlfriend Kate Cassidy as his song ends on a minor key.
She has her own career as an influencer
Cassidy was prepared for the spotlight that her romance with Liam brought thanks to her own career as an influencer and social media star.
Cassidy, who was born in New Jersey, had prepared for a career by attending Coastal Carolina University, which she graduated from in 2021.
She later relocated to London, but the globetrotting beauty regularly treated her 109K Instagram followers to stunning views of her trips across the world.
She has posted herself in sizzling outfits at Italy’s Lake Como, in Milan, Paris, St. Tropez, Rome and Spain, among other glamorous locales.
Last year, the two made a show-stopping appearance together at the Wimbledon tennis championships.
Liam also occasionally joined his girlfriend on her Instagram page, though he was a rare sight.
Her new profile also put her in the orbit of other stars aside from her famous boyfriend, including the model and reality star Kendall Jenner.
How did she meet Liam?
Cassidy recounted the story of how they met in a video shared less than a month before his death.
In a TikTok video uploaded on September 20, New Jersey native Cassidy recounted how she and Liam met and how their relationship almost never happened at all.
The pair began dating in October 2022 after they met at a bar in Charleston, South Carolina where Cassidy worked as a waitress at the time.
However, in her video, Cassidy told her followers how their meeting almost never happened as she had desperately tried to get off work that evening.
She said: ‘I worked at this bar/lounge place called Ritual. Me and all my friends worked there, it was only my second week at work and I didn’t want to work every weekend.
‘They put me on schedule for week two and I really wanted to get off. I tried everything in my power to get off and nothing worked out.
‘On the way to work my manager texted me and was like ‘Liam Payne from One Direction is here, you’re going to be taking care of him tonight.’ ‘
Cassidy admitted she was ‘freaking out’ when she had to approach Liam’s table and ended up chickening out at first.
She said: ‘When I first approached him, I got nervous and stopped and turned around. I guess we made awkward eye contact for a second.
‘We talk about it because he said to [his friend] Conor, ‘Oh my God, did you see that girl walking over here? I’m not leaving this bar until I get her number.’
‘Then two minutes later I come back around. He was like, ‘is there anyway I can get a table inside?’ He’s literally sitting inside drinking Red Bulls and I didn’t think anything of it, I just thought he was overly friendly, I didn’t think he was flirting with me.’
Cassidy told how everytime she approached his table, Liam offered her to sit down with him and soon asked for her number.
She said: ‘Everytime I came to the table to check up on him, he’d be like sit down! I have family in London and I was like, ‘Oh I’m going to London to see my cousin’ and he was like, ‘I’d love to be your tour guide when you come.’ I was like, OK I’m picking up the sense that you’re flirting with me.
‘He asked for my number and I didn’t realise you had to put the +1 because I’m from America. I just my area code, the 201 and he tried texting me and it kept going green, not delivered.
‘He thought I’d put the wrong number in as in like, not interested. I was freaking out all night and then he realised I forgot to put the +1 and it went through.’
They suffered another mishap later that evening as Cassidy’s phone died when she went to bed and Liam thought she had blocked his number.
She recalled: ‘That night, I actually didn’t plug my phone in before bed so when I woke up in the morning it was dead. Once he finally got the number to go through, he thought I blocked him because it didn’t say delivered.
‘The next morning I texted him and was like so sorry for getting back to you so late, what time is your flight back to England? He was like, before I leave for the airport I can come see you for lunch.
‘We went for lunch which went really well and then went bowling and then went on a ghost tour, we basically had one of our first dates in a graveyard.
‘He extended his flight and then extended it again the next day so he ended up in Charleston for three days. That’s the story of how we met.
‘Literally, everything happens for a meeting. Don’t get off work because you want to go to a party because you never know, you could end up meeting your future husband.’
She and Liam began their romance in October 2022
The former One Direction member’s death came just around two years after he and Cassidy began their relationship.
DailyMail.com published photos of the two together for the first time.
They appeared to be having a great time for Halloween festivities in which she dressed up for the big night as Pamela Anderson, while Payne showed off a bevy of tattoos in a white tank top to transform into her rocker ex-husband Tommy Lee.
Cassidy made it clear she was ready to go Instagram official with the pop superstar when she also posted a photo of their costume on Instagram.
Payne was moving on with the blond bombshell just six months after the tumultuous end of his engagement to Maya Henry.
Earlier this year, amid Payne’s relationship with Cassidy, Henry reignited their conflicts when she published a novel with thinly veiled characters appearing to stand in for herself and her ex, with his book avatar urging the female lead to get an abortion after she got pregnant.
Then, just two days before his death, Henry sent a cease-and-desist letter to Payne to prevent his alleged attempts to repeatedly contact her. She also accused him of ‘weaponizing’ his fans against her in the missive.
A month after Payne and Cassidy made their public debut, they made it clear that the relationship was serious when he appeared again on her Instagram in a post documenting her trip to Rome.
Although they had been coy about their relationship, two came together for a hug in the post.
Liam and Kate make red-carpet debut in December 2022 — and he defends his love
Two months after they were first linked and went Instagram official, Cassidy and the singing heartthrob celebrated another milestone by going red-carpet official.
They were on Payne’s home turf in London to attend the British Fashion Awards.
He looked stylish in a black suit with peaked lapels and a slim matching tie, and he added a dashing air with some designer stubble over his chiseled jaw.
Cassidy complemented the singer–songwriter with an eye-catching black dress featuring a sky-high slit and diamond-shaped cutouts over her toned midriff.
Her boyfriend showed how crazy he was for her when he commented on her Instagram post from the evening, writing: ‘Who is that lucky lucky dashing young man next to you. nah seriously you look fantastic I coulda just told you that as your on the sofa next to me but you know tech and phones n stuff.’
The red carpet appearance seems to have set off some fans who feared that Cassidy was only interested in Payne for his money after his massive success as part of One Direction.
They attend One Direction pal Louis Tomlinson’s documentary
Payne even went so far as to integrate his new love into his life as a former One Direction member.
The boy band member–turned–solo artist posed with the influencer on the red carpet of the UK premiere of the documentary All Of Those Voices.
The film charted the path of Liam’s friend and former colleague Louis Tomlinson, from his days with him as part of One Direction through his early years trying to establish himself as a solo artist.
Cassidy posted a photo of the two in the red-carpet outfits to her Instagram account, adding in her caption: ‘What a crazy eye opening experience!’
She added that it was ‘so nice to meet [Tomlinson] finally.’
The couple weather break-up rumors
In May of 2023, Payne and Cassidy were reported to have broken up.
Rumors of a split had been swirling after the two hadn’t been pictured together since April.
A source told The Sun at the time that Payne was more focused on his music, and Cassidy had allegedly moved out and gone back home to the US.
But in June, the two were pictured together holding hands, signaling that they were back together.
They were spotted leaving Chiltern Firehouse in London after attending Annabel’s 60th Anniversary Party together.
Together in his final days
Although the nature of Payne’s tragic death from a multi-story fall and what led up to it are not yet known, Cassidy was with him in his final days.
On Snapchat, he appeared to have documented the couple’s trip to Argentina, and in a rush of Snapchat posts just minutes before his death, he noted that the couple had been ‘waking up at 1pm everyday.’
He also posted a somber shot of himself, which he captioned: ‘Lovely day in Argentina ❤️.’
Significantly, Cassidy appeared with Payne in his final post, but the photo was not new.
Instead, it had previously appeared on Kate’s Instagram on August 29, 2023, in a carousel celebrating her boyfriend’s 30th birthday.
It’s still unclear if the throwback photo held special significance for Payne, but it ended up being the final image he shared with his fans before his untimely death.
Kate leaves Liam in Argentina
Cassidy had left the singer in Argentina to return to the US just two days before his death.
Cassidy shared a video on TikTok revealing that she was flying back to her home in Florida after spending two weeks with Payne in Argentina.
She added that she had originally planned to stay in Argentina for ‘five days,’ and she was ‘so ready to leave.’
‘I was just like, I need to go home,’ she said in the video, which documented her flight back to the US.
Kate and Liam flew to Buenos Aires to watch his former bandmate Niall Horan’s concert on October 4, and he remained in the country after his girlfriend flew home.
Liam said ‘Kate makes me happy to be me’
Payne defended his waitress girlfriend from accusations she was only with him for his money and said she made him ‘happy to be me’ and that he had ‘never felt a love like this before’.
In a 2023 TikTok video, she explained: ‘I am the best manifester, and I’m going to show you why.’
Holding up a popsicle stick with a drawing of a brunette man in a white shirt and jeans, labelled Liam, she explained: ‘I drew this when I was 10 years old.’
In the early days of their romance, however, it seemed not everyone was convinced about the relationship, and one fan even sent Liam a DM warning him that Kate was after his cash.
Liam responded by screenshotting the message and putting it on his Instagram Stories and gushing over his new romance.
He said: ‘Gotta say you could tell me anything and I couldn’t be turned, I’ve never felt a love like I do for Katelyn. We make each other better people.’
Defending her against the gold digger accusations, he said: ‘If it was just for the money I’d give her all of it.
‘It’s not though (please remember I’m hella sexy) and I know I’m fun and a loveable person.
‘And I don’t give a f**k to say that for the first time in my life I’m happy to be me and that’s priceless.’
Cassidy ‘loves the simple things’ in their relationship
Cassidy shared a heartfelt message telling the singer she ‘loved the simple things’ just days before his tragic death.
Just days before the death, his model girlfriend shared a touching post, dedicated to the star.
The blonde beauty took a snap of the popstar riding horseback in the countryside The Sun reports.
Payne could be seen wearing a casual grey T-shirt as he sat on the horse and spoketo someone who appeared to be helping him.
Over the picture, Kate wrote: ‘I am very grateful for the simple things in life’.