Perrie Edwards has spoken out about Liam Payne's tragic passing, revealing that her "heart hurts" over the heartbreaking news.
The Little Mix star, who rose to fame on The X Factor in 2011 a year after One Direction was formed, recently cancelled her BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge appearance as she processed the loss.
© GettySpeaking candidly on Fearne Cotton's Happy Place podcast, which was recorded just a day after Liam's death, Perrie shared her shock and sadness.
"I think it just feels weird," she confessed. "It's just so sad and heartbreaking and my heart hurts for his family and friends, Cheryl, his little boy.
"It's devastating I can't imagine how they must be feeling now. I didn't think it was real when I read it, it's in the air and everyone can feel it."
© GettyReflecting on the shared bond between Little Mix and One Direction, Perrie added: "Me and the Little Mix girls were messaging and Leigh-Anne (Pinnock) just said it feels very close to home. Our careers were very aligned, we had a close relationship with them. It's honestly so sad, it made my body feel so weird when I saw the headline."
Liam passed away, aged 31, after falling from a third-floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel in the Argentine capital on 16 October. Perrie was previously engaged to Liam's former bandmate Zayn Malik.
© Photo: InstagramIn the same chat, Perrie opened up about the darker side of fame, including the toll of online trolling and the pressures of the music industry.
"There are no consequences for people's comments online," she explained. "People are not looked after enough in this industry, people are put on a pedestal. They are treated like a god and then everyone jumps on this bandwagon of like, 'Let's tear them down'.
"But people are human. Can we make rules with social media? I can't bear it - I try to not look as I can go into a hole just looking at negative comments.
Acknowledging her own struggles with the mental toll of fame, she added: "Success is good but fame is different - there is a dark side to it. It's intense. I bring my therapist to work with me sometimes as I can't cope with the panic attacks sometimes."
Perrie met the One Direction boys on The X Factor UK in 2011 at the start of their successful music careers.
She dated Zayn for two years before he proposed in August 2013, but they split in 2015 before walking down the aisle.
Liam Payne's rise to fame and career timeline
© NBC- 2008: Liam auditions for The X-Factor at 14 years old and is told to come back in two years by Simon Cowell.
- 2010: Liam returns to The X-Factor auditions and is placed in a group with Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Harry Styles, forming One Direction. The band place third in the competition.
- September 2011: One Direction's debut single, 'What Makes You Beautiful' goes to number one in the UK and around the world. Since then, the band have had 14 top ten hits in the UK and four number-one albums on the Billboard 200.
- December 2011: Liam embarks on his first world tour with One Direction.
- November 2012: One Direction releases their second album, Take Me Home.
- August 2013: The band's documentary film One Direction: This Is Us, hit the big screen, with thousands of fans supporting the film at its premiere in London's Leicester Square.
- November 2013: One Direction releases their third album, Midnight Memories.
- December 2016: One Direction announce their indefinite hiatus.
- May 2017: Liam releases his debut single, 'Strip That Down', in May.
- December 2019: Liam releases his first and only album, LP1, which reaches the top 20 in the UK.
- March 2023: Liam releases a comeback single, 'Teardrops'.
- October 2023: Reports that Liam's second studio album has been put on hold.
