Liam Payne’s relationship history: From a long-term romance with Cheryl and steamy fling with Naomi Campbell to his fiery split from Maya Henry – a lookback at the singer’s love life after his tragic death at 31
Liam Payne‘s death has devastated fans around the world, after the singer fell from a third floor of a hotel in the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires.
Several witnesses told TMZ that Liam had fallen from his room at the CasaSur Palmero Hotel shortly after 5pm on Wednesday evening.
The star’s final Snapchat posts showed him happily posing with his bikini-clad partner Kate Cassidy as they looked into a mirror.
Liam was best known as a member of the beloved boyband One Direction, but also made headlines with his turbulent love life.
Having first won an army of fans at the age of 16, Liam went onto date a string of stars, most famously X Factor judge Cheryl, with whom he shared seven-year-old son Bear.
Liam Payne ‘s death has devastated fans around the world, with reports claiming he fell from a third floor of a hotel in the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires
As well as a fling with model Naomi Campbell, Liam was also engaged to model Maya Henry, who in recent days had instructed lawyers to issue a cease and desist letter to her ex after accusing him of repeatedly contacting her.
MailOnline takes a look at Liam Payne’s relationship history…
Danielle Peazar (2010-2012)
Liam dated Danielle Peazar from 2010-2012 after meeting on The X Factor where she worked as a dancer
Liam met dancer Danielle when they both appeared on The X Factor in 2010 with the couple going on to date for two years.
The pair enjoyed a very brief reconciliation the following year, but soon called it quits for good.
In 2018, Danielle sparked rumours she was back in touch the singer after a fan asked Danielle if she and the singer kept in contact during an Instagram Q&A, to which she responded: ‘I’m gonna keep that between him and I.’
Sophia Smith (2013-2015)
Liam and Sophia Smith originally met when they were both in school, but didn’t date until 2013, splitting in October 2015
Liam and Sophia originally met when they were both in school, but didn’t date until 2013, splitting in October 2015.
He told The Sun On Sunday at the time: ‘I’m absolutely devastated to have split with Sophia, but in order to do right by somebody, sometimes it’s better not to do what your heart wants, but to do what’s better for them.’
The split came as a shock to fans as just weeks before the boyband hunk admitted that the pair were talking about marriage.
In an interview with Attitude magazine, he said: ‘We have talked about marriage, but 22 seems a bit young for us. Sophia needs to go off and do what she wants to do.
‘I don’t want her to be one of those stay-at-home girlfriends who doesn’t really do much.’
Cheryl (2015-2017)
Liam’s most high-profile romance was with singer Cheryl, who is 10 years his senior and the couple share son Bear (pictured in 2018)
The couple went their separate ways in July 2018 following a two and a half year romance but have remained amicable co-parents to their son
Liam’s most high-profile romance was with singer Cheryl, who is 10 years his senior.
The couple first met when Cheryl was 24 when a then 14-year-old Liam first auditioned for the X Factor back in 2008, but the pair’s romance is said to have started in December 2015 when they got reacquainted at the X Factor final.
Cheryl and Liam went public with their romance in February 2016 and welcomed son Bear in March 2017.
The couple went their separate ways in July 2018 following a two and a half year romance but have remained amicable co-parents to their son.
In 2022, Liam declared welcoming son Bear with ex Cheryl ‘ruined their relationship but for all the right reasons’ in his most candid chat yet.
Speaking on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast, the Strip That Down singer said he originally struggled with becoming a father at the tender age of 23, and detailed how Cheryl haemorrhaged ‘badly’ while giving birth.
He said: ‘I like to talk to other new dads. You don’t know what is coming and it’s different.
‘And to be honest with you, it ruined a relationship for me at that point but for all the right reasons. I was so excited for him to be born that I was actually worried if I wouldn’t love him enough.’
Cairo Dwek (2018)
Liam enjoyed a summer romance with model Cairo Dwek, with their two-month relationship coming to an end in September 2018 after two months of dating
Liam enjoyed a summer romance with model Cairo, with their two-month relationship coming to an end in September 2018 after two months of dating.
The Bedroom Floor hitmaker confirmed their split when fans quizzed him on his relationship status – bizarrely beneath one of singer John Mayer’s live Instagram videos.
After John told fans he was single, Liam quickly shut down speculation adding: ‘I’m single too,’ followed by a wink emoji.
Naomi Campbell (2019)
Liam was linked to model Naomi Campbell, who is 23 years older than him, in 2019, with the couple said to have enjoyed a four-month fling that ended in April
Liam was linked Naomi, who is 23 years older than him, in 2019, with the couple said to have enjoyed a four-month fling that ended in April after Naomi got ‘bored’ of the singer.
It began with a seemingly harmless flirtation on Instagram, liking and commenting on one another’s steamy posts.
Liam described her as ‘perfection in a person’, with her branding him ‘a beautiful soul’.
There were reports about Liam bragging about the couple’s ‘mind-blowing’ sex, but when Naomi was asked outright about the tryst on The Jonathan Ross Show she said the rumours were ‘humorous’. Any romance appeared to end shortly after this.
Jonathan asked Naomi about her love life, saying: ‘There have been a lot of headlines recently connecting you to Mr Liam Payne…’
Naomi stood firm though, simply smiling and replying: ‘And? I never discuss my personal life. Another name?’
Naomi smiled: ‘I never discuss my personal life. I mean, it’s crazy it’s like one day it’s one person, the next day it’s another. Who is tomorrow? That’s what I want to know… For me I laugh. The stories are incredible, it’s humorous… I just get on with my life.’
Maya Henry (2019-2022)
Liam dated Maya Henry from 2019 to 2022, and they were engaged until 2021. In recent days she has claimed he went to extraordinary lengths in an attempt to contact her
Liam revealed in June that he had called off his engagement to fiancée Maya, in order to ‘work on himself’.
The couple confirmed their engagement in August 2020 after Liam popped the question during lockdown with a £3 million ring.
The pair were first linked back in August 2018 shortly after Liam’s high-profile split from Cheryl.
However, they first set eyes on each other three years earlier, when they were pictured together at a meet-and-greet event when One Direction fan Maya was 15.
The singer’s stop-start three-year relationship with Maya came to an end in 2022, almost a year after the couple called off their engagement.
In recent days, Maya has shared a brutal assessment of her relationship with Liam while promoting her debut novel Looking Forward.
Speaking to her TikTok followers last week, Maya – the daughter of multi-millionaire personal-injury lawyer Thomas J. Henry – claimed Liam went to extraordinary lengths in an attempt to contact her.
‘Ever since we broke up he messages me, will blow up my phone, not only from his phone, it’s always from different phone numbers too, so I never know where it’s gonna come from,’ she said.
‘He’ll create new iCloud accounts to message me – it’s always a new damn iCloud account. Every time I see one pop up on my phone I’m like, “here we f***ing go again”
‘Also, he will email me… not only me, but he’ll blow up my mom’s phone. Is this normal behaviour to you?’
She added: ‘He’s the one that is constantly doing weird sh*t, and also might I add, he literally said the reason he has all these people on his damn Snapchat, which he has had for years apparently, and messages, is he preys on One Direction fans because they’re loyal to him.’
Speaking in 2021, shortly after confirming their engagement was over, Payne admitted he was at fault during an interview with Stephen Bartlett’s Diary Of A CEO podcast.
‘I feel like more than anything at this point, I’m more disappointed in myself that I keep on hurting people,’ he said.
‘That annoys me. I’ve just not been very good at relationships. And I know what my pattern of things is with relationships at this point.
‘I’m just not very good at them so I just need to work on myself before I put myself on to somebody else.’
He added: ‘That’s where I got to in my last relationship. I just wasn’t giving a very good version of me anymore, that I didn’t appreciate and I didn’t like being. I can honestly say I feel better out of it.
‘I didn’t feel good doing what I did but it had to happen. Just a corny way to say it was the best for us both.’
Kate Cassidy (2022-2024)
Kate and Liam first started dating in October 2022, and made their red carpet debut at the Fashion Awards later that year
She appeared in Liam’s final social media post before his death, showing them spending time together in Buenos Aires
Kate and Liam first started dating in October 2022, and made their red carpet debut at the Fashion Awards later that year.
However, in May 2023, the couple sparked split rumours, with a source telling US Weekly: ‘Liam and Kate have broken up.’
The pair then put an end to split rumours by enjoying a date in London in June 2023, and later that year she supported him when he was rushed to hospital with a ‘serious kidney infection’.
In August, Liam came under fire for making a ‘misogynistic’ comment towards his girlfriend Kate.
He went viral on social media after Kate shared a TikTok video of the pair showing off their outfits ahead of date night in Manchester.
As Kate described her ensemble – a fitted black waistcoat and cropped trousers – Liam looked deadpan into the camera and said: ‘Looking good, nice and covered up for once.’
Fans were left in shock by the remark, taking to X to point out the hypocritical nature of his comment, given that he has posed shirtless and previously released the single, Strip That Down.
They commented: ‘”Looking good, nice and covered up for once” ???? Girl i know you faking that laugh at the end’; ‘meanwhile these are his insta stories’; the fact that he would always claim to be the “nice” and “kind” one from 1d…. yikes! a soon to be raging misogynist [sic].’
Some fans did come to his defence, however, posting: ‘So many people think they know exactly what’s going on based on a 6 seconds video. It’s disgusting how so many people find it so easy to hate. Shame on you.’;
‘Why do ppl get so mad when a man expresses how he likes his gf to dress? She obviously still wears what she wants. [sic]’
