Nicole Scherzinger has broken her silence following Liam Payne’s tragic death at the age of 31.
On Friday, the 46-year-old shared an emotional Instagram tribute to Payne.
Alongside Simon Cowell, Scherzinger is credited for forming the late singer’s boy band One Direction, which included Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson, in the 2010 “The X Factor” season.
“Dear Liam, I will forever cherish and treasure the time we shared together, from fifteen years ago when One Direction was born, right up until just a few weeks ago,” she penned alongside two pictures of her, Payne and Kelly Rowland. “It was such a blessing to get to work with you recently. We shared the same love and passion for music and I will forever remember the meaningful and joyful conversations we had.”
Scherzinger added, “It’s been so hard to process that you’re no longer here, but I am grateful to have known your kind heart, sweet soul and character.”
The former Pussycat Dolls star concluded, “You brought so much joy, light, and laughter to the lives of those that truly knew you. I will ‘miss you’ my friend and carry you in my heart. My thoughts and prayers are with your family.”
In August, it was announced that Scherzinger, Rowland, 43, Payne and AJ McLean would star in a new Netflix series called “Building the Band.”
Scherzinger would serve as a mentor and judge, while Payne and Rowland would be on the show as sole judges.
The singer also paid her respects while appearing on “Good Morning America.”
“Liam and I were quite close, especially because we recently did a show on Netflix together called Building the Band,” she revealed. “And so, yeah, I’m heartbroken. I’m heartbroken for Liam, I’m heartbroken for his family and his loved ones and his friends.”
Scherzinger continued, “Liam always led with his heart and with kindness, and I really hope that’s how he’ll always be remembered.”
The Broadway star’s sweet words come after composer Andrew Lloyd Webber revealed in an interview with Billboard on Thursday that she had been texting Payne on the day he died.
“I suppose something that hasn’t been said, and I suppose I could say, is that of course she mentored Liam [Payne], from One Direction,” Webber, who composed the music for Scherzinger’s Broadway musical “Sunset Blvd.,” revealed.
“On the Wednesday when he died, she was still texting him that day, and [that evening] the reviewers came in [to ‘Sunset’], she’d just heard that he died,” he recalled. “And the fact that she even did the show at all is extraordinary.”
The musician noted, “I mean she is an amazing, amazing woman. She is without any question one of the finest performers I’ve ever worked with.”
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Payne passed away earlier this month after falling from his third-floor balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The boy band alum fractured his skull and died instantly from “very serious injuries,” according to Buenos Aires Emergency Services Chief Alberto Crescenti. He also suffered internal and external hemorrhages in the skull, thorax, abdomen and limbs, which “contributed to the mechanism of death,” per the autopsy.
Payne also had a toxic cocktail of drugs in his system that also appeared in his preliminary autopsy report.
The artist had “pink cocaine,” known as Tusi — a combination of methamphetamine, ketamine and ecstasy — benzodiazepine, crack and cocaine in his bloodstream, according to ABC News.
The hotel was raided on Wednesday evening, with law enforcement seizing computer hard drives and hotel surveillance footage, reported the AP.
Police are working overtime to find out who supplied Payne with the drugs and have interviewed several hotel employees.