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Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Warner Bros
Perrie Edwards and the members of Little Mix have started to open up about their reactions when first learning of Liam Payne’s tragic death.
The 31-year-old pop star spoke about Liam’s tragic death for the first time during a Sunday, October 27, appearance on the “Happy Place” podcast.
“It just feels so weird. It’s just so sad and heartbreaking, and my heart honestly hurts for his family, his friends, [his ex] Cheryl [Cole and] his little boy,” she said, referring to his 7-year-old son, Bear, whom he shares with Cheryl. “It’s just absolutely devastating. … I didn’t think it was real when I read it. It’s a very weird space. … It’s in the air, and everyone can feel it. It’s really sad.”
Both Perrie and Liam began their careers on the reality competition show The X Factor and were part of bands created from the show. Liam was part of One Direction, a boy band created on the show’s seventh season, while Little Mix, Perrie’s group, was formed in the eighth season. On top of that, Perrie was engaged to Liam’s former bandmate, Zayn Malik, from 2013 to 2015.
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Along with sharing her own reaction to news of her former friend’s death, Perrie also explained that the members of Little Mix, who were all close to One Direction at one point or another, were texting with one another in a group chat after news of Liam’s death was first reported.
“Us [Little Mix] girls were messaging, and Leigh-Anne [Pinnock] was like, ‘It’s very close to home,’” she said. “Our careers were very aligned, we had a relationship with them. It’s honestly so sad. It made my body feel weird when I saw the headlines. Like, ‘That can’t be real.’”
Liam died at age 31 on October 16, 2024, after falling from his third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A partial autopsy showed that he had “pink cocaine” — a recreational drug that is typically a mix of methamphetamine, ketamine and MDMA — in his system at the time.
The initial preliminary autopsy revealed that the former One Direction member may have been “in a state of semi or total unconsciousness” at the time of his fall, as his injuries and the “position in which his body was found” suggested he “did not adopt a reflexive posture to protect himself.”
Additionally, Perrie also said that Liam’s passing should spark conversations about why celebrities are “struggling so much” while being in the public eye.
“I don’t think there’s enough consequences for people [being mean] online. I don’t think people in this industry are looked after enough,” she said. “They’re put on a pedestal, they get brought up, and they’re like this God or this amazing person, and then everyone jumps on this bandwagon of like, ‘Yeah, let’s tear them down.’”
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English (US) ·