This Thursday (Oct. 16) is going to be a challenging day for Liam Payne‘s family and friends, including the late star’s girlfriend, Kate Cassidy.
That’s because the date will mark exactly one year since Payne died after falling from the fourth floor of his hotel in Argentina. Four days before that, the influencer saw her boyfriend for what she didn’t know yet was the last time — something Cassidy reflected on in an emotional TikTok posted Sunday (Oct. 12).
“One year ago today on Oct. 12 was the last day that I spent with Liam,” Cassidy began. “I feel honestly extremely numb today. I actually think somebody could slap me across the face, and I wouldn’t even be fazed.”
“I wanted to make this video, because I wanted to express how important it is to really remind your loved ones how much you love them,” she continued. “I know I always say it, but you never know what tomorrow brings.”
The internet personality went on to describe the last conversation she had with Payne in Argentina. Cassidy had accompanied him for the first part of the trip, but left a few days before his death.
“I was sitting on the couch, just expressing to him how much I’m going to miss him, how much I love him,” she told the camera with tears in her eyes. “Honestly, it’s so weird to look back at because it was such a long, heartfelt goodbye. He looked at me, and he said, ‘[Kate], you’re going to miss your flight. You’re acting like this is the last time you’re ever going to see me again.’ And little did I know, it literally was the last time I got to see him.”
She added, “I’m so, so glad that me and Liam had that last goodbye the way it was.”
In the immediate days that followed Payne’s death, family members, fans and all four of his former One Direction bandmates shared statements expressing their grief.
Louis Tomlinson recently revealed that, like Cassidy, he’s also still working through his emotions surrounding the loss of his friend. “There’s still a level in my head [where it feels] unjust and frustrating that he’s not with us anymore,” he told Rolling Stone UK. “It was really, really, impossibly difficult for me to deal with losing Liam.”
At the time of his death, Payne had high levels of alcohol and other substances in his system, according to toxicology reports. The musician had been open about his struggles with drinking and addiction in his lifetime.
In an interview on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast following Payne’s death, Cassidy touched on the same subject. “He experienced struggles with mental health for years before dating me,” she said at the time. “It’s something that I, at first, didn’t fully understand. I don’t have addiction that runs in my family. I think in the beginning of our relationship, when he was struggling a little bit, I think that I remember just kind of being like, in my head, ‘Can’t you just not do that?’ But it’s not that easy. It’s not easy at all.”
See Cassidy’s TikTok below.
