Model and influencer reveals he gave her a note promising to marry her before he died
Cassidy was visiting the country with the One Direction star for several weeks in the leadup to his death on Oct. 16 after he jumped from the balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires.
But the model and influencer left Argentina two days before Payne died at the age of 31. Now a source close to Cassidy says she’s agonizing over her decision to leave Payne behind.
“She can’t leave, or else who knows what will happen? And if she leaves, what will he do? But she has other responsibilities, other things that she’s supposed to be doing. So she finally had to make a decision,” a close friend told the New York Post.
They were initially only supposed to be in the country for a few days after flying in to see a solo concert featuring Payne’s One Direction bandmate Niall Horan. But the mood changed as Payne kept trying to extend their time away.
“They’re in Argentina and it’s like a hostage situation,” the friend says. “She tells him she wants to leave, this is after a week. He begs her to stay. She keeps extending her trip, a day, two days. And he just wants her to stay, stay, stay.”
Eventually, Cassidy decided to depart back to Florida. “She wanted to be home in her own bed with her dog. She wanted to come home. So eventually she says she’s going home,” the insider tells the outlet.
ABC reported that the Teardrops singer “had multiple substances in his system” when he fell from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires.
Payne’s autopsy also revealed traces of cocaine, crack and benzodiazepine, which is a depressant, were present in his body at the time of his death.
Additionally, ABC reported that “an improvised aluminum pipe to ingest drugs was also found in his hotel room.”
In the leadup to Payne’s death, the musician painted a rosy picture of his time away, uploading videos to his Snapchat and telling fans he was “having a lovely day” in Argentina with Cassidy. But 911 audio detailed a frantic scene in the hotel as staff sought medical help dealing with the troubled father of one.
By the time medics arrived, Payne was already dead, with his body found in the inside courtyard of the hotel, where he was pronounced dead.
What led to Payne’s jumping to his death remains a mystery, but according to TMZ, “one theory is he may have been hallucinating as a result of the illicit substance he was using.”
Over the weekend, Cassidy broke her silence on Payne’s death telling her social media followers she’s “at a complete loss.”
“Nothing about the past few days have felt real,” Cassidy posted on her Instagram Stories. “I ask and pray that you’ll give me the grace and space to navigate this in private.”
She then addressed Payne directly, writing: “Liam, my angel. You are everything. I want you to know I loved you unconditionally and completely. I will continue to love you for the rest of my life. I love you Liam.”
On Wednesday, Cassidy posted a handwritten note from Payne in which he pledged to marry her and her own tribute alongside a slideshow of images of the couple.
“A few weeks ago, we sat outside on a beautiful evening manifesting our lives together. I keep your note close, even though you told me not to look at it,” Cassidy wrote.
“It said, ‘Me and Kate to marry within a year/engaged & together forever 444.’ Liam I know we’ll be together forever, but not in the way we had planned. You will always be with me. I’ve gained a guardian angel,” she said.
She ended her message by declaring to Payne she was “Forever yours” and including the number 444. At the end of her slideshow, she explained the meaning behind the number.
“More often, you will see the number 444 when you are feeling alone,” the image explains. “In simple sense, the number 444 reminds you that your angels are always there to support you.”