Influencer Kate Cassidy started dating Liam Payne in 2022. Photo / Getty Images
Influencer Kate Cassidy started dating Liam Payne in 2022. Photo / Getty Images
Kate Cassidy “completely blacked out” when she found out her boyfriend Liam Payne had died, and says they were in “such a great place” just before he passed away.
The 25-year-old influencer discovered the One Direction star - who passed away in October, aged 31, afterfalling from his hotel balcony in Buenos Aires - had died when one of his friends rang her to tell her the devastating news, and she is “blessed” she didn’t find out over social media like many others.
She told The Sun newspaper: “I feel blessed I didn’t find out over social media because I just couldn’t even imagine that. I was in our home with our dog, scrolling TikTok and one of Liam’s friends called me.
“That moment, it’s like blank; it’s blacked out in my head.
“I didn’t believe it at first. I thought it was just a rumour. Or something that somebody made up just to get views. Then instantly I just had a bad feeling in my gut. I was like, ‘Why would somebody make this up? Is this true?’
Cassidy “felt numb” when she “officially” found out Payne had passed away and she tried to call his phone, which she still now rings to listen to his voicemail recording.
Speaking about her reaction at the time, she said: “I tried to call him. I called pretty much everybody.
“Then I was in touch with his family, and my mum got the first flight out to be with me.”
Cassidy had been in Argentina with Payne, but she returned to their Florida home without him to take care of their dog Nala.
Cassidy says they were in such a great place before the star passed. Photo / @kateecass
But Cassidy - who started dating Payne in 2022 - insisted he was in “such a good headspace” when she left the country, and the couple were “in such a great place”.
She added: “Liam was in such a good headspace when I left Argentina.
“We were in such a great place, just full of love; he was so happy and positive. And I just can’t even believe the way things truly ended.
“It’s genuinely insane to me how things can just be taken away from you so quickly in life, you never truly know what tomorrow will bring, you never know.”
Cassidy - who has since left the pair’s rented Florida mansion and moved back to New Jersey - also told how she can’t listen to Payne’s music now, but hopes to return to his tunes “one day”.
She recently revealed a new angel wings tattoo on two of her fingers following his tragic death.
Cassidy showed off her new inking as she cuddled up to Nala in a post on her Instagram Story, which was simply captioned with a heart emoji.
