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Kate Cassidy is still coming to terms with the death of her boyfriend Liam Payne and is opening up about the heartbreaking way she learned of his passing.
During an appearance on the April 16 episode of the On Purpose podcast, Cassidy shared the upsetting way she learned that the former One Direction star had passed away at the age of 31. Payne died October 16, 2024, after falling to his death from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Speaking to host Jay Shetty, the 26-year-old influencer revealed she was at their home in Florida when she got a call from one of Payne's friends asking if he was okay as he "heard he fell from a balcony," per People. Cassidy said she shut down the claims as she thought it was just a rumor, but she did get concerned that he may have fallen and gotten hurt.
However, as she began making phone calls and was met with no answer, she started to "freak out" and get "a little bit panicky." She ended up calling back the first friend to see if he had heard anything new.
"He was like, 'The only update I've heard is that Liam's... dead," she said. "In that moment, I still didn't believe it to be true. There was just no way, but there was just that one little part of me in the back of my head that was like, why would somebody make this up?"
As minutes passed, she began pacing around her house while her phone "[blew] up" with messages from friends, family and "people that I haven't spoken to in years." The first friend finally called back and confirmed that "Liam's not here anymore." Even then, Cassidy was still in denial.
"I still didn't really believe it. I just kept saying, 'No, no, no. Are you sure? He probably just... broke a bone. He broke a rib. He broke something,'" she recalled. Eventually, the truth set in and she "lost it."
The couple's housekeeper, who had previously left for the day, returned after learning the news to help comfort Cassidy as she broke down.
"She put in the garage code, ran in the house and just literally fell on the ground and just hugged me and just said, 'I am so sorry,'" she said. "It was just me and her, and she was so comforting and brought me water, brought me tissues."
Elsewhere in the interview, Cassidy detailed the "last beautiful moment" she and Payne had together in Argentina days before his death, and the "chilling" goodbye they shared before she returned to America.