Nicole Scherzinger has opened up about her last text messages with Liam Payne on the day he died.
The former One Direction star, 31, was killed on October 16 last year after falling from the third-storey balcony of a Buenos Aires hotel.
Nicole, 47, was among the judges of the X Factor when One Direction formed on the competition in 2010.
Although Simon Cowell served as the band's official mentor on the show, ex-Pussycat Dolls frontwoman Nicole had a hand in the group's formation and she became a long-term mentor to Liam, The Times reports.
Nicole said: "I’d known he was in Argentina. It was just chit-chat and pretty light.
"I just adored Liam. He had such a good heart. I barely knew him when I put One Direction together. I just saw these talented boys and was like: 'I’m coming out of a girl group – I know the power of a group.'"
At the time of Liam's death, Nicole was preparing to go on stage in Jamie Lloyd's revival of Sunset Boulevard and despite her shock, she managed to perform the show that evening.
She went on: "The show must go on. From then on, I dedicated a little part of the show to Liam every night. Just a little moment that always made me think of him."
She also reflected on the harsh scrutiny on many performers, adding: "We need more compassion in the world. Our phones are our enemies as much as they help us. I wish we’d cancel cancel culture."
One Direction, which consisted of Payne, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Harry Styles, became one of the biggest pop groups in the world, with five albums and four world tours, until they went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016.
Payne went on to launch his solo career and released his debut solo album LP1 in December 2019. He also had a relationship with former X Factor judge Cheryl, with whom he had a son Bear, now aged seven.
Prior to Liam’s death, he appeared as a guest judge on Nicole’s Netflix competition series Building The Band, which she served on as a judge alongside Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland plus host AJ McClean.
Speaking on The View, Scherzinger said Payne was “in his element” on the show and her favourite memory of the late singer was his “heart”.
She said: “When you watch the show, you’ll see little glimpses of him after he’s talking, or things where you just catch him off guard and it’s when he smiles.
“He smiles with his eyes. It’s like he’s giving you a hug, like he’s embracing you and holding you.
“Liam just had such a beautiful, beautiful heart. And I’m so happy that people get to remember him and see him in his light and in his element, giving back because he lived it.”
The series is billed as a “music experiment” where 50 singers must form a band without seeing or meeting one another.
