One Direction star Liam Payne dead at 31 after falling off hotel balcony in Argentina
Liam Payne has died after falling off a hotel balcony in Argentina, according to several local news outlets. He was 31.
The Former One Direction star allegedly plunged to his death from the third floor of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel. It’s unclear if it was intentional or accidental; however, eyewitnesses told TMZ Payne was acting “erratic” before his sudden passing.
The Post has reached out to Payne’s reps.
According to the outlet, the singer smashed his laptop in the hotel lobby and was carried back to his room before the fall.
Photos obtained by The Post showed police officers and a forensics team outside of the hotel. After word got out about Payne’s death, fans swarmed the scene with their phones in the air.
The singer’s body was removed from the hotel and loaded into an ambulance that drove off with a police escort.
Payne arrived in Argentina earlier this month with his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, to support his former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan, who had a show there.
The pair had been posting from their vacation and seemed to be happy. Payne even shared several pictures on Snapchat before his death. In one photo, he joked about what he should be for Halloween. In another, the singer said he was having “a lovely day.”
However, Payne’s girlfriend fled the city and headed back to the states two days ago. Cassidy shared a TikTok on Monday, saying she was “relieved” to be home in Florida.
Payne was born on August 29, 1993 in Wolverhampton, England. He was an avid runner, participating in cross-country at an early age.
He got his first taste of stardom when he joined Pink Productions Theatre Company’s “Saturday Night Fever,” playing Tony Manero.
Payne got his big break when he auditioned for “The X Factor” for the second time in 2010 at 16 after being cut in 2008. That’s when One Direction — consisting of members Horan, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles — was born.
The show hurled One Direction into immediate fame. The boy band is one of the highest-selling boy bands of all time, having sold 70 million records worldwide.
The band’s split started in 2015 when Malik left the group in the middle of their world tour. One Direction went on an indefinite hiatus the following year.
Payne leaves behind a son, Bear, 7, with his ex, singer Cheryl Cole.
Payne started dating Cole in 2016 after they met on “The X Factor,” where she served alongside Simon Cowell as a judge.
The singer spoke about the joys of fatherhood shortly in 2018, telling People, “I always wanted to be a young dad but I didn’t really expect that I’d ever be in this place.”
He continued, “I had my son at a young age, and you think it will be a magical thing, that you’re going to grow up one day into the person you’re supposed to be,” he explained. “But it took a lot to find my footing.”
Despite sharing a son, the pair split in 2018.
By August 2020, Payne was engaged to model Maya Henry but their romance was tumultuous. They called off their romance in June 2021 before reconciling later that year and getting engaged for the second time. Payne and Henry ended their relationship for good in May 2022.
However, Henry claimed Payne continued to call her and her family in the time leading up to his death. Just two days before his passing, her lawyers issued him a cease-and-desist, accusing the singer of “weaponizing his fans” against her and obsessively contacting her loved ones.
Payne was first linked to Cassidy in Oct. 2022. They made their red-carpet debut as a couple in Jan. 2023.
The singer was born to parents Geoff and Karen Payne. He also had two older sisters, Ruth and Nicola, who he remained extremely close to.
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