Niall Horan has been seen for the first time since the shock death of One Direction bandmate Liam Payne.
The 31-year-old went out for a walk in London with his girlfriend Amelia Woolley, and their pet dog. The musician looked downcast as he spent time with his partner of four years.
On Wednesday, it was announced Payne had died aged 31 after falling off a balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Payne was in Argentina to support Horan at his concert, which he attended earlier this month on October 2 with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy.
Explaining the trip’s purpose, Payne had said: ‘We’re going to Argentina. One, because we have to, and two, because we want to, and three, because Niall Horan’s playing down there and I think we might just go and say “Hello”.’
‘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 things with the boy.
‘No bad vibes or nothing like that, but just, we need to talk.’
Payne had always been publicly supportive of Horan’s endeavours. In 2017, he wrote on X: ‘Proud of how far we’ve come bro! Everyone go out and buy his album.’
‘Indeed! Thank you Payno. Love ya. Go get this man’s single also,’ responded Horan.
Payne and Horan were part of One Direction alongside Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, and Louis Tomlinson.
The five singers all auditioned as solo artists on The X Factor 2010, but were put into a boy band together.
Their hits, including What Makes You Beautiful, Story of My Life, and Night Changes, made them global stars. Together, they achieved four UK number one albums, four number ones singles and worldwide fame.
Following the band’s hiatus announcement in 2016, Payne began releasing solo music. This included single Strip That Down in 2017 and the album LP1 in 2019.
He also collaborated with Rita Ora on For You which was part of the Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack. He was due to release his second solo album this year, but it was reportedly pulled.
The stars are yet to publicly speak about Payne’s passing, but The Sun reports that Malik — who left the group first in 2015 — is in ‘shock’ and surrounded by loved ones.
An insider shared: ‘He is in shock, and his parents have been in touch with Liam’s family to offer their support and condolences.
‘They didn’t hate each other but they couldn’t see eye to eye on different things,’ continued the source.
‘But they both felt that they had been exploited in the music industry.’
Styles’ mum, Anne Twist, posted a picture of a broken heart emoji with the caption: ‘Just a boy … 💔’
In his last Instagram post, shared in May, Payne could be seen posing alongside his former bandmates Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Harry Styles, as well as late director Morgan Spurlock – following his death earlier this year.
As they navigating their extreme success, the five men formed a unique bond, which was noticeable to all those aorund them.
‘They became brothers very, very quickly,’ X Factor host Dermot O’Leary previously said. ‘These boys were kind of each other’s family, and they were so unbelievably tight.’