Niall Horan Breaks Silence on Liam Payne’s Death: ‘Fortunate’ I Got To See Him Recently

Niall Horan is devastated by the passing of his former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne. The “Slow Hands” singer reacted to the news on Friday, October 18.

“I’m absolutely devastated about the passing of my amazing friend, Liam. It just doesn’t feel real,” he wrote. “Liam had an energy for life and a passion for work that was infectious. He was the brightest in every room and always made everyone feel happy and secure. All the laughs we had over the years, sometimes about the stupidest of things, keeping coming to mind through the sadness. We got to live our wildest dreams together and I will cherish every moment we had forever. The bond and friendship we had doesn’t happen often in a lifetime.”

Liam attended Niall’s concert in Argentina on October 2, just two weeks before he died in the South American country on Wednesday, October 16. Niall, 31, reflected on this in his post. “I feel so fortunate that I got to see him recently,” he added. “I sadly didn’t know that after saying goodbye and hugging him that evening, I would be saying goodbye forever. It’s heartbreaking. My love and condolences go out to Geoff, Karen, Ruth, Nicola and of course his son Bear. Thank you for everything, Payno. Love you brother.”

Ahead of the concert, Liam posted a video to Snapchat where he discussed the possibility of reuniting with his longtime friend. “We’re going to Argentina,” Liam, who was 31 when he died, said in the video, referring to himself and girlfriend Kate Cassidy. “One, because we want to. Two, because we want to. And three, because Niall Horan’s playing down there and I think we might just go and say hello. It’s been a while since me and Niall have spoken. We’ve got a lot to talk about and I would like to square up a couple things with the boy. No bad vibes or nothing like that but we just need to talk.”

Fan videos from the concert showed Liam dancing and singing along to Niall’s music throughout the show. He also posted a photo with Niall after the show on Snapchat with the caption, “Reunited,” according to Us Weekly.

Liam and Niall were put into One Direction with Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik on The X-Factor in 2010. The group disbanded at the beginning of 2016 when they announced they were going on an indefinite hiatus and the members began pursuing solo careers.

In 2017, Liam and Niall reunited at KIIS-FM’s Jingle Ball concert in California. They were both performers at the star-studded event and took photos together backstage. The following year, they posed for pics with Liam’s then-girlfriend, Cheryl (formerly known as Cheryl Cole) at a BRIT Awards afterparty.

The “Strip That Down” singer stayed in Argentina after attending Niall’s concert. Kate, 25, revealed that she flew back to the United States on October 14, two days before her boyfriend died.

Liam died from sustaining “extremely serious injuries” after a fall from the third floor of his hotel in Buenos Aires. When authorities arrived at the scene, they determined that his injuries were “incompatible with life,” Buenos Aires emergency services chief Alberto Crescenti confirmed, adding that the emergency medical team found a “fracture in the base of his skull.”

Liam’s preliminary autopsy concluded that he died from multiple injuries that led to “internal and external hemmorhaging,” per forensic pathologists Santiago Maffia Bizzozero and Victor Roberto Cohen.

In a 2023 interview with Today, Niall revealed that the members of One Direction were still close. “We were just having a great time,” he gushed. “We always used to say we’re normal people doing an abnormal job, which is a good outlook to have.”

Meanwhile, Liam publicly said some negative things about his former bandmates in public interviews, but backtracked and apologized in 2023. “My own frustrations with my own career and where I kind of landed, I took shots at everybody else, which is wrong,” he said in a YouTube video. “So, obviously, I want to apologize for that because that’s definitely not me. When I needed them most they kind of came to my rescue.”