Little Mix’s Perrie Edwards is still processing Liam Payne’s death.
Edwards, 31, spoke about Payne’s passing for the first time during a Sunday, October 27, appearance on the “Happy Place” podcast.
“It just feels so weird. It’s just so sad and heartbreaking, and my heart honestly hurts for his family, his friends, [his ex] Cheryl [Cole and] his little boy,” she said, referring to Payne’s 7-year-old son, Bear, whom he shares with Cole, 41. “It’s just absolutely devastating. … I didn’t think it was real when I read it. It’s a very weird space. … It’s in the air, and everyone can feel it. It’s really sad.”
Edwards and Payne both started their careers on the reality competition series The X Factor. Payne’s former band, One Direction, was formed during season 7 of the show while Little Mix was formed during season 8. Edwards was engaged to Payne’s former bandmate Zayn Malik from 2013 to 2015.
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“Us [Little Mix] girls were messaging, and Leigh-Anne [Pinnock] was like, ‘It’s very close to home,’” Edwards said of Payne’s death. “Our careers were very aligned, we had a relationship with them. It’s honestly so sad. It made my body feel weird when I saw the headlines. Like, ‘That can’t be real.’”
Payne died at age 31 on October 16 after falling from a third-floor balcony of the CasaSur hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A partial autopsy subsequently showed that he had “pink cocaine” — a recreational drug that is typically a mix of methamphetamine, ketamine and MDMA — in his system at the time, along with cocaine, benzodiazepine and crack.
The initial preliminary autopsy revealed that Payne may have been “in a state of semi or total unconsciousness” at the time of his fall, as his injuries and the “position in which his body was found” suggested he “did not adopt a reflexive posture to protect himself.”
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Payne suffered “multiple traumas” as a result of the fall, including “cranioencephalic injuries” that were “severe enough to cause death.” He also had hemorrhages in his skull, chest, abdomen and limbs.
“His injuries were incompatible with life,” Buenos Aires emergency services chief Alberto Crescenti said in a statement, according to La Nacion. “Based on what the team saw, there was apparently a cranial fracture and extremely serious injuries that led to his immediate death.”
Edwards said on Sunday that Payne’s passing should spark questions about why some people in the public eye are “struggling so much.”
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“I don’t think there’s enough consequences for people [being mean] online. I don’t think people in this industry are looked after enough,” she said. “They’re put on a pedestal, they get brought up, and they’re like this God or this amazing person, and then everyone jumps on this bandwagon of like, ‘Yeah, let’s tear them down.’”
Edwards added that fame gets to her sometimes as well, and noted that she often brings her therapist to work with her because she “literally can’t cope with the panic attacks and stuff.”
While Sunday marked Edwards’ first time discussing Payne’s death, she previously pulled out of a BBC Radio 1 appearance that was scheduled to take place days after his passing. The show’s hosts noted that Edwards’ cancellation was due to “the sad news of Liam Payne.”
