Cheryl Cole has broken her silence with a heartbreaking tribute to Liam Payne in the wake of his sudden death.
The former One Direction star died after falling 45ft to his death from a third-floor balcony at the CasaSur Palmero Hotel in Argentina.
The Girls Aloud singer was previously in a relationship with Payne for two years, with the pair welcoming their child, Bear Grey, into the world on March 22, 2017.
The grieving mother has taken to Instagram telling of her anguish as she tries ‘navigate this earth shattering event’.
Her statement read: ‘As I try to navigate this earth shattering event, and work through my own grief at this indescribably painful time.
‘I’d like to kindly remind everyone that we have lost a human being.
‘Liam was not only a pop star and celebrity, he was a son, a brother, an uncle, a dear friend and a father to our seven year old son.
‘A son that now has to face the reality of never seeing his father again.’
The pair initially crossed paths on the hit talent show in 2008, however it wasn’t until 2016 that their relationship began.
They made their official red carpet debut at Eva Longoria’s Global Gift Gala in Paris in that year, with Payne paying tribute to Cheryl with a tattoo of her eye on his arm.
On March 22, 2017, the Girls Aloud singer gave birth to their son Bear, previously writing to Instagram: ‘On Wednesday Liam and I became parents to an incredibly beautiful, healthy baby boy looking like a dream.’
However a year later in July, Cheryl and Liam announced their split.
Later on in her statement, Cheryl kindly requested for the public and media to ‘give Liam the little dignity he has left.’
She continued: ‘What is troubling my spirit the most is that one day Bear will have access to the abhorrent reports and media exploitation we have seen in the past two days.
‘It is breaking my heart further that I cannot protect him from that in the future.
‘I am begging you to consider what use some of these reports are serving, other than to cause further harm to everyone left behind picking up the pieces.
‘Before you leave comments or make videos, ask yourself if you would like your own child or family to read them.
‘Please give Liam the little dignity he has left in the wake of his death to rest in some piece.’
Before his sudden death at around 5pm (ART) , the pop star had been attending his former bandmate Niall Horan’s tour in the Latin American country.
A heartbreaking video shows Liam Payne singing and dancing at the concert with his current partner Kate Cassidy.
Following the gig, he posted a tragic picture with Niall to Snapchat captioned: ‘Reunited.’
Separate posts from the final moments of the star’s life showed him enjoying lunch in his hotel room, where he revealed the pair had been ‘waking up at 1pm every day’ and deciding on Forest Gump as a Halloween costume.
A further tragic selfie was captioned: ‘Lovely day in Argentina’ before the star shared a photo of his hotel, writing: ‘Happy I got some time away’ followed by a heart emoji.
He shared a further photo with Kate captioned: ‘Quality time.’
Liam began his pursuit to stardom when he initially auditioned for X Factor in 2008.
At only 14-years-old Liam impressed judges with his own version of Fly Me To The Moon by Frank Sinatra – but was later eliminated from the show.
However Payne gave his singing career another go auditioning for the competition again in 2010, where he quickly shot to fame as part of One Direction.
He and his former bandmates Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, were brought together by Simon Cowell and former judge Nicole Scherzinger who saw their potential as a group.
After just a few weeks of getting to know each other and non-stop rehearsing, the group impressed Simon at their Judge’s Houses audition and sailed through to the live shows.
The pop Svengali later admitted to Rolling Stone that it took him ‘about a millionth of a second’ to spot the group’s worldwide potential.
The fan reaction was instant too, with 1D hysteria soon dwarfing the show. Despite the adoration, the band ultimately finished in third place on the X Factor but shortly afterwards Cowell sealed their fate by signing the fivesome to a reported £2million Syco contract.
Keen to capitalise on the boys’ already devoted fanbase, Cowell moved quickly with recording for the band’s debut album beginning in January 2011.
By September of that year One Direction’s first single was released with What Makes You Beautiful soaring to number one on the UK Singles Chart, after becoming the most pre-ordered Sony Music Entertainment single in history.
Their debut album, Up All Night was also a best seller, becoming the UK’s fastest-selling debut album of 2011, with the record leading to their first tour which kicked off in the UK that December.
After Malik announced his departure from the band in 2016, the band members went their separate ways.
During their time as a group, One Direction won five Brit Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, amassed over three billion YouTube views and sold 50 million records worldwide.
After releasing five albums with one of the biggest boybands of all time, Liam released his first solo album titled LP1 in 2019.
His singles Strip That Down co-written with Ed Sheeran climbed its way to number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart that same year.
Over the course of his music career, the popstar collaborated with the likes of J Balvin, French Montana, Dixie D’Amelio and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie.
Following his romance with Ms Cole, Liam had an on-and-off relationship with ex-fiancée Maya Henry, and the pair called it quits in May, 2022.
Fans have flocked outside the CasaSur Palmero Hotel in Argentina as well as to his hometown of Wolverhampton to hold several vigils in remembrance of the beloved pop star.