Liam Payne's life after One Direction including celebrity girlfriends and rumoured romance with supermodel

The world of showbusiness is mourning Liam Payne after his death at the age of 31. The Wolverhampton-born singer died falling from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Local police said the 31-year-old fell into the courtyard of the CasaSur Hotel in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, before medics confirmed his death.

The singer rose to fame as part of One Direction, who went on to become a global sensation after they finished third on The X Factor in 2010. Fans were devastated when Liam, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson went on indefinite hiatus in 2016 - although a split was never formally confirmed.

READ MORE: Inside Liam Payne's hotel room as photos show white powder and smashed TV

Zayn Malik was the first to leave the group in 2015, with the boy band releasing one more record before going their separate ways to pursue solo projects. Around this time, Liam was also in a high profile relationship with former X Factor judge Cheryl Cole, who he dated from 2015 to 2017.

He was open about his struggles with mental health and alcohol after his meteoric rise to fame and long after his One Direction days, continued to make headlines for both his romances and his remarks about his time in the boyband.

Taking six months off after One Direction 'split' and first solo moves

Liam said he was in therapy for two years after One Direction, and took six months off. He said in an interview with the Guardian: “It was difficult at the start, because I didn’t really know anything about myself. It was a bit of a numb feeling."

He told Billboard in May 2017 that he was initially unsure about becoming a solo artist and he was going to continue with songwriting. But he added: "Then I was like, ‘You’ve been trying to do this since you were 14 years old. You would be ridiculously stupid to turn down the option to have a deal.’

"Coming out of the band, we had some pretty good opportunities around us. I had to do something."

He told KISS FM in 2018 that there were "some tough times" after One Direction went on their break. He said: “When the band started our break I struggled with the idea of becoming famous again, it scared the living daylights out of me. Because the last time it nearly killed me, frankly [...] So I had to figure out a way to make it work for me — rather than me work for it.”

He was the final member of One Direction to officially go solo, releasing his first single, the Ed Sheeran co-written Strip That Down, in May 2017. It hinted at an R 'n' B influence to his music away from the pure pop of One Direction. It reached number three on the UK Singles Chart and number ten on the US Billboard Hot 100.

His only album, LP1, came out two years later and included the songs Polaroid and Familiar. But it had mixed reviews, with some critics saying he was struggling to find a distinct identity as an artist. In a 4.3 score review written by Pitchfork, the reviewer wrote “Payne is, at best, competent.”

Struggles with alcohol

Amid the success of his first solo single, Liam said he was “struggling” with alcohol but "hid it very well". He then spent a year sober, saying: "My social life completely plummeted. I always feel like you never get past the awkward first 10 minutes at a party, when everyone’s like: ‘Do we get up and dance, or do we just sit here?’

"I don’t know whether it made me happier, but it was definitely needed."

He would later open up about his struggles with addiction during an interview with The Diary of a CEO podcast, hosted by Steven Bartlett, admitting that he was unsure whether he had already reached rock bottom.

He confessed: "I was worried how far my rock bottom was going to be. Where’s rock bottom for me? And you would never have seen it. I’m very good at hiding it. I don’t even know if I’ve hit it yet.

“I don’t even know if I’ve hit it yet,” he says, “it feels like I can either make that choice now and pick that last moment as my rock [...] or I can make a whole new one. It’s my choice.”

Split with Cheryl and being away from Bear

Liam and Cheryl first met when he was 14 and auditioning for The X Factor - with him told to come back in two years. They began dating in 2016, when he was 22 and she was 32.

The couple welcomed their son Bear in March 2017, a year into their relationship and while Liam said he wanted to be a young dad, he admitted he struggled at first. "I built it up so much in my head. Finding your feet in that relationship between child and father – it’s difficult."

He said he contributed by cooking, saying: “Cheryl was always really glued to Bear, so for me, I was like: ‘What’s my role in this? If I cook and look after her, then in turn I’m looking after him’ – that made sense to me."

The couple confirmed their split in July 2018, with Liam later telling the Logan Paul podcast that becoming parents contributed to the breakdown of their relationship. He said: “You don't know what is coming and it's different. And to be honest with you, it ruined a relationship for me at that point but for all the right reasons. I was so excited for him to be born that I was actually worried if I wouldn't love him enough."

Liam's schedule would take him away from Bear for weeks at a time. He said it was "always difficult” but they stayed in contact with regular phone calls and FaceTime.

Calling One Direction 'toxic' and going into rehab

Liam came under fire from One Direction fans over comments he made about his time in the group. Appearing on Logan Paul's podcast in 2022, he claimed that the group dynamic was “a little bit toxic”, and singled out Zayn Malik in particular for criticism. He also said he almost “came to blows” with a bandmate backstage before a show.

He later revealed that he had checked into rehab, saying his comments "came from the wrong place". He added: "I was so angry at what was going on around me and instead of taking a look inwards I decided to look outwards at everybody else, and I just think, yeah, I took it out on everybody else, which is just wrong, really.”

He said he was in a sobriety treatment programme in Louisiana, sharing: “I have had a lot of time to recollect over those moments. I kinda had to go away to get better. The whole thing up to that point was just a scramble to stay relevant.”

He later said the podcast interview helped him get “more of a grip on life and everything that was getting away from me” and celebrated 100 days of sobriety in May 2023.

He shared: “I just needed to take a little bit of time out for myself actually because I kind of became somebody who I didn't really recognise anymore and I'm sure you guys didn't either. I was in bad shape up until that point and I was really happy to kind of put a stopper to life and work."

Celebrity romances and supermodel fling

After his split from Cheryl, Liam hit the headlines for a rumoured romance with supermodel Naomi Campbell. The unlikely couple, who had a 23-year age gap, were first linked in January 2019. Fans were stunned to see them exchanging flirty comments on social media, with Liam calling the model "perfection in a person" in an Instagram message.

Naomi repaid the compliment by replying "beautiful soul" on one of Liam's topless snaps. That month, they were spotted together at Nigerian artist Davido's concert at London's O2 Arena, followed by rumoured outings to a restaurant in Ghana and London celebrity haunt Annabel's. Sources later said their romance had fizzled out.

Liam was asked about the romance by former SAS: Who Dares Wins star Ant Middleton as they trekked around Namibia together for a TV show. He insisted: "She was just a friend", before turning away and giggling when the army man asked if she was a "friend friend".

Ant said: "Come on Liam you know she wasn't an old buddy old pal, I think the world knows that!" Liam grinned as he replied: "You believe what you want - I'm not saying anything."

Liam was then in an on-off relationship with Maya Henry from 2019 and 2022 but the model recently accused him of harassment and taking extreme measures to attempt to contact her following their break-up. She said in a video posted on TikTok: "Ever since we broke up, he messages me, will blow up my phone, not only from his phone number, it’s always from different phone numbers, so I never know where it’s going to come from."

Days before the singer's death, she was reported to have appointed lawyers and issued a cease and desist notice to Liam to stop his contact.

At the time of his death, Liam was in a long term relationship with Kate Cassidy, a 25-year-old model and influencer.

Holiday in Argentina and reconnecting with One Direction bandmate

Weeks before his death, Liam flew out to Argentina with his girlfriend, influencer Kate Cassidy, to see bandmate Niall Horan perform at the Movistar Arena in Buenos Aires on 2 October. He said on Snapchat: “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 of things with the boy. No bad vibes or nothing like that but we just need to talk.”

He went to the concert with his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, and posted a long thread of videos to his Snapchat stories documenting the night. The thread featured videos of the couple dancing – one clip showing Liam with his arm around her as they swayed to the music.

There was also footage of the star interacting with fans and pictures of Niall on stage captioned “So proud” and “So happy I got to see Niall in concert”. The thread finished with a selfie of the two former bandmates, captioned: “Reunited”, with a love heart emoji.

According to videos from both their social media accounts, the couple stayed on in Argentina after Horan’s concert, telling fans on social media that they were enjoying long lie ins, riding horses and might play polo.