How Kate Cassidy Has Coped Since Liam Payne's Death a Year Ago
In the last text Kate Cassidy sent to Liam Payne, she wrote that she couldn't wait for him to "get home and see the house," the influencer having put up Halloween decorations after returning early from the couple's vacation in Argentina.
But Payne never made it home. On Oct. 16, 2024, four days after Cassidy flew back to Florida, the 31-year-old One Direction alum fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.
"Love is so optimistic, and you just hope that everything will work out at the end," Cassidy told The Sun in February. "Obviously if I knew, if I could see into the future, I would never have left Argentina.”
She had spent the majority of two years by Payne's side since their 2022 meet-cute at a South Carolina restaurant where she was waitressing. But she had felt the pull of responsibility to get back to the couple's dog Nala and, she explained, "This wasn’t the first time we have traveled separately. I just never thought this would have happened, that it would turn out the way it did.”
But while anyone could get overwhelmed by what-ifs, the 26-year-old has been trying to piece her life back together one day at a time.
"I feel like my life has changed so much and I think about Liam every second of every day," she said. "It still doesn't feel fully real for me that he's not here. Sometimes I'll wake up and it's a reality I have to face for the rest of my life."
As she explained on an April episode of On Purpose With Jay Shetty, "I have my harder days, and I have my better days. Each day I'm just trying my best...And I think even just trying my best makes me that little bit better."
Cassidy—who credited her family and friends for being a "great support system" in the hours, days and months since Payne's death— said that if she could help anyone at all by sharing her story, then she was glad to talk.
"I've never lost anybody extremely close to me," she noted on the podcast. "And the fact that I’m 25 years old and the first funeral that I have to attend is my partner's funeral, just still doesn't sit right with me."
While trying on her dress for the funeral, she recalled thinking, "I was supposed to be trying on my wedding dress."
Since then, grief has been the opposite of a linear journey.
"I'm still working on accepting the fact that he's not here anymore, so it's hard for me to refer to him in the past tense," Cassidy said in March on Lorraine, "and when I do refer to him in the past tense, it almost stings that little bit more. It's more official."
She remains grateful, however, for what she shared with Payne the last time she saw him, reiterating in an Oct. 12 TikTok that she spent their final minutes together "just expressing to him how much I'm going to miss him, how much I love him" before she left Argentina.
"Honestly, it's so weird to look back at," she said, "because it was such a long, heartfelt goodbye. He looked at me and he said, 'Katelyn, you're going to miss your flight, you're acting like this is the last time you're ever going to see me.'"
Which, tragically, it was. But thinking of how effusive she was with her affection has brought Cassidy peace as well as pain.
"To know that really was the last time I was able to see him, it's just so chilling," she said during her On Purpose appearance. "But in a way, I think that the way we said goodbye to each other...I wouldn't have wanted it to be any differently."
See the sweet moments Cassidy has shared from her relationship with Payne:
Prior to Liam Payne's tragic passing at the age of 31, the One Direction alum had been dating Kate Cassidy for two years.
But the truth is Kate—a self-identified Directioner—had been manifesting their relationship since she was only 10 years old, she previously revealed.
During their relationship, the pair enjoyed being dog parents to Kate's pup Nala. In fact, Liam once joked about his many "random" nicknames for their pet, laughing that "none of them have to do with Nala.”
The couple also often documented their trips around the world and had been together in Argentina in the weeks leading up to Liam's death in Buenos Aires.
Two days after Liam's death, Kate—who had left Argentina prior to her boyfriend’s fatal fall—shared her heartbreak over his passing, noting "nothing about the past few days have felt real."
Kate continued of her late love, "I want you to know I loved you unconditionally and completely. I will continue to love you for the rest of my life. I love you Liam."
In an additional heartbreaking tribute, shared just one week after the “For You” singer’s death, Kate reflected on how he will always be with her.
"Liam, I know we’ll be together forever, but not in the way we had planned," she wrote. "You’ll always be with me. I’ve gained a guardian angel. I will love you for the rest of my life and beyond, carrying our dreams and memories with me everywhere I go."
Within the tribute, the 25-year-old also shared that that she and Liam had looking toward their future and he had written about his plans to marry her.
"A few weeks ago, we sat outside on a beautiful evening manifesting our lives together," Kate wrote. "I keep your note close, even though you told me not to look at it. It said, 'Me and Kate to marry within a year/engaged & together forever 444.'"
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