Liam Payne’s girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, is paying solemn tribute to the former One Direction singer two days after his death at age 31.
On Friday, the social media influencer shared an emotional note to her Instagram stories, in which she thanked supporters for “all of the kind words and love that has been sent my way” while requesting privacy as she processed her grief.
“Nothing about the past few days have felt real,” she wrote. “I ask and pray that you’ll give me the grace and space to navigate this in private.”
She ended her note by addressing Payne, her boyfriend of two years, directly.
“Liam, my angel. You are everything,” she wrote. “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.”
Payne was found dead Wednesday after falling from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Cassidy, a New Jersey native, had recently traveled with Payne to Argentina. On Oct. 2, the couple were spotted at Buenos Aires’ Movistar Arena, where Payne’s former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan was performing.
Just days before Payne’s death, Cassidy confirmed on social media that she’d returned to the U.S., while he stayed behind in Argentina.
“We were supposed to be there for five days — turned into two weeks,” she said in a TikTok video. “And I was just like, ‘I need to go home.’”
Payne and Cassidy were first romantically linked in October 2022. They made their red-carpet debut as a couple at the British Fashion Awards later that year.