Liam Payne Was Texting with Friend & Mentor Nicole Scherzinger the Day He Died

Nicole Scherzinger is paying tribute to Liam Payne in a heartfelt Instagram post.

Payne, 31, fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Argentina on October 16.

Nicole has a long history with Liam. She was with Simon Cowell in 2010 when they formed Payne’s boy band One Direction on “X Factor.” They had also just wrapped filming on the Netflix reality show “Building the Band,” alongside AJ McLean and Kelly Rowland, two months before Liam died. 

Scherzinger shared a letter to Payne on Instagram, alongside selfies of them with Kelly.

She wrote, “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. 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.”

Nicole shared, “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. 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. 🙏🏽♥️”

She also spoke about Liam on “Good Morning America,” saying, “Liam and I were quite close, especially because we recently did a show on Netflix together called ‘Building the Band.’ 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.”

In addition, People magazine reports Andrew Lloyd Webber told Billboard that Nicole was texting with Payne the day he died.

Webber, who is working with Nicole on the Broadway show “Sunset Boulevard,” said, “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. 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 shared, “And the fact that she even did the show at all is extraordinary… I mean, she is an amazing, amazing woman. She is without any question one of the finest performers I’ve ever worked with.”