Liam Payne’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy told the story of how they met in a video shared less than a month before his death at the age of 31.
The former One Direction star fell from the third floor of the Casa Sur Palmero hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Wednesday.
The pop star reportedly arrived in the Latin American country earlier this month to attend his ex-bandmate Niall Horan’s concert.
In a TikTok video uploaded on September 20, New Jersey native Kate opened up about how she and Liam met and how their relationship almost never materialized.
The pair started dating in October 2022 after meeting at a bar in Charleston, South Carolina, where Kate was working as a waitress at the time.
Liam Payne’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy told the story of how they met in a video shared less than a month before his death at age 31
The former One Direction star fell from the third floor of the Casa Sur Palmero hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Wednesday (pictured with Kate in his latest social media post)
However, in her video, Kate told her followers that their meeting almost never happened because she had desperately tried to get off work that night.
She said: ‘I worked at a bar/lounge called Ritual. Me and all my friends were working there, it was only my second week of work and I didn’t feel like working every weekend.
“They had me scheduled for week two and I really wanted to get it over with. I tried everything to get rid of it but nothing worked.
‘On the way to work my manager texted me and said, “Liam Payne from One Direction is here, you’re going to look after him tonight.” ‘
Kate admitted she ‘freaked out’ when she had to approach Liam’s table and ended up passing out at first.
She said: ‘When I first approached him I got nervous, stopped and turned around. I think we had some awkward eye contact for a moment.
“We talk about it because he said so [his friend] Conor: ‘Oh my God, did you see that girl walking here? I’m not leaving this bar until I get her number.’
‘I’ll come back two minutes later. He said, “Can I still get a table inside?” He’s literally sitting inside drinking Red Bulls and I didn’t think anything of it, I just thought he was overly friendly, I didn’t think he was flirting with me.”
In a TikTok video uploaded on September 20, Kate opened up about how she and Liam met and how their relationship almost never materialized.
In her video, Kate told her followers that their meeting almost never happened because she had desperately tried to get off work that night
Kate told how every time she came to his table, Liam offered her to sit with him and soon asked for her number.
She said: ‘Every time I came to the table to check on him, he wanted to sit down! I have family in London and I thought, “Oh, I’m going to London to see my cousin,” and he said, “I’d love to be your tour guide when you come.” I thought, okay, I get the feeling you’re flirting with me.
‘He asked for my number and I didn’t know you had to put the +1 because I’m from America. I just have my area code, the 201, and he tried to text me and it stayed green, not delivered.
‘He thought I had entered the wrong number, but he wasn’t interested. I was panicking all night and then he realized I forgot to put the +1 and it continued.”
Later that night they had another accident when Kate’s phone went dead as she went to bed and Liam thought she had blocked his number.
She recalls, “That night I didn’t plug in my phone before I went to bed, so when I woke up in the morning it was dead. When he finally got the number to go through, he thought I had blocked him because it didn’t say “concerned.”
‘The next morning I texted him and was so sorry I got back so late, what time is your flight back to England? He said: before I leave for the airport, I can come and have lunch with you.
‘We went to lunch, which went really well, then we went bowling and then on a ghost tour, we actually had one of our first dates in a cemetery.
Just days before the shocking death, Kate shared a touching message dedicated to the star
The 31-year-old rose to fame on XFactor in 2010 with former bandmates Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, despite initially auditioning separately
He previously dated British pop sensation Cheryl Cole and the couple welcomed their son Bear Gray on March 22, 2017.
“He extended his flight and again the next day, so he ended up in Charleston for three days. That’s the story of how we met.
‘Literally everything happens before a meeting. Don’t leave work because you want to go to a party, because you never know, you might meet your future husband.’
Just days before his death, Kate shared a touching message dedicated to the singer.
The blonde beauty snapped a photo of the pop star riding a horse in the countryside, The Sun reports.
Liam was seen in a casual gray T-shirt as he sat on the horse and spoke to someone who appeared to be helping him.
Kate captioned the photo: “I’m very grateful for the simple things in life.”
Before the singer’s death, he had seen a final Snapchat post in which he happily posed with his partner Kate Cassidy as they looked in the mirror. A photo originally taken last August.
Further reports from the final moments of the star’s life showed him enjoying lunch in his hotel room, where he revealed the pair ‘woke up at 1pm every day’ and decided to make Forest Gump as a Halloween costume to elect.
On Wednesday, thousands of fans gathered outside the hotel where Liam died
Some were pictured lighting candles and praying for the singer
Another tragic selfie was captioned: “Beautiful day in Argentina” before the star shared a photo from his hotel and wrote: “Glad I had some time,” followed by a heart emoji.
He shared another photo with Kate with the caption: “Quality time.”
Following reports of his death, city ambulance service spokesman Alberto Crescenti said Mr Payne had fallen about 40 meters and suffered “serious injuries incompatible with life”.
He said: ‘At 5.04pm local time the alarm was raised due to a person lying on an internal patio of Casa Sur.
‘At 5.11pm an ambulance arrived and the man was pronounced dead.
‘Afterwards we found out that he had been a famous singer. Unfortunately, the injuries he sustained as a result of the fall proved fatal. There was no way to resuscitate him.”
Liam began his quest for fame when he first auditioned for the X Factor in 2008.
At just 14 years old, Liam impressed the judges with his own version of Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon, but was later eliminated from the show.
However, Payne gave his singing career another chance by auditioning for the competition again in 2010, where he quickly rose to fame as part of One Direction.
He and his former bandmates Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson were brought together by Simon Cowell and former judge Nicole Scherzinger who saw their potential as a group.
After releasing five albums with one of the biggest boy bands of all time, Liam released his first solo album in 2019, titled LP1.
His singles Strip That Down, co-written with Ed Sheeran, climbed to No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart that same year.
Over the course of his music career, the pop star has collaborated with J Balvin, French Montana, Dixie D’Amelio and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, among others.
He previously dated British pop sensation Cheryl Cole and the couple welcomed their son Bear Gray on March 22, 2017. The parents later split in 2018.
He previously dated British pop sensation Cheryl Cole and the couple welcomed their son Bear Gray on March 22, 2017.
Following his romance with the Girls Aloud singer, Liam had an on-off relationship with ex-fiancée Maya Henry, and the pair called it quits in May 2022.
