Jade Looks Back on Her Friendship with Liam Payne at the Assembly

Memories of Liam Payne

Jade shared some memories of her friendship with the late Liam Payne in the recent episode of ITV Assembly Field.

Tragic Passing

Payne died in October after falling from the balcony on the third floor at the hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Argentinean prosecutor’s office later confirmed that the cause of death at the age of 31 was due to multiple injuries and internal and external bleeding.

Jade was the last celebrity to appear on ITV Assembly, where stars interview a group of autistic, neurodivergent, and disabled individuals who can ask them anything they wish.

At one point, she was asked: “You were quite close to Liam Payne. There are many complex stories and a lot of negativity surrounding it. I was wondering if you would like to share the positive memory that you both have and talk about what he was like as a person.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBQFU3HNKIE

Jade recalled that Payne was “the first friend that I made in the industry.” They met when both were contestants on X-Factor in 2010. Although Payne placed third with One Direction, Jade did not find success until returning the following year, joining Little Mix.

“He was just so sweet. He was very talented and truly wanted to make his family proud. I remember everyone on the show at the time saying: ‘This man is a star.’ You could say he literally had the X-Factor. He was destined to be a musician and a singer,” she shared.

“I’m glad you asked this,” she added.

Jade is set to debut at Glastonbury later this summer. “With Glastonbury, there is always something special about pop,” she mentioned in an interview with Kiss Radio Breakfast.

Meanwhile, last month, Payne’s sister, Ruth Gibbins, wrote an emotional tribute marking the six-month anniversary of his death.

“Six months, six months without you?! My head is still screaming for you. Every morning, I wake up feeling as though I’m drowning, gasping for air that never comes,” she wrote.

Gibbins continued, “It’s impossible to live without you, and as long as I exist, I am learning to laugh or smile in the right moments, but, dear friend, it’s exhausting when all I want is to talk to you. In the few moments where I let myself feel love instead of just loss, I can truly smile at the memories of us, like last year when we laughed so much, but now we cannot make new ones.”

“Sometimes I can hear your laughter, walking around like Whoopi Goldberg in ‘Ghost,’ searching for you wherever I go,” she wrote. “I see you, although you always come back in different ways to guide me back on the right path. I cannot process what happened, and ultimately, you know I will never stop doing everything I can for you. I miss you loudly, quietly, and in all the moments in between.