Liam Payne's Dating History: All About the Late Singer's Past Girlfriends — and What They've Said Since His Shocking Death

Mar. 15, 2025

English singer Liam Payne and US actor Katie Cassidy pose on the red carpet upon arrival at The 2022 Fashion Awards in London on December 5, 2022 ; Cheryl and Liam Payne attend The BRIT Awards 2018 Red Carpet, The O2, London.Photo:DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty; JMEnternational/Getty

DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty; JMEnternational/Getty

Liam Paynehad a number of famous relationships before hissudden death at 31 years old.

TheOne Directionsinger died on Oct. 16 afterfalling from a hotel balconyin Buenos Aires, Argentina. He wasspending time in the countrywith his girlfriend,Kate Cassidy, whom he included in hisfinal social media postsjust hours before he died.

“Liam, my angel. You are everything,” Cassidy wrote on her Instagram Stories ina touching tributetwo days after his death. “I want you to know I loved you unconditionally and completely. I will continue to love you for the rest of my life. I love you Liam.”

“I feel like more than anything at this point, I’m more disappointed in myself that I keep on hurting people. That annoys me,” he said in a June 2021 interview onThe Diary of a CEOpodcast. “I’ve just not been very good at relationships. And I know what my pattern of things is with relationships, I feel at this point.”

Here’s a look back at Liam Payne’s dating history.

Danielle Peazer

Danielle Peazer and Liam Payne at Whiskey Mist night club on April 2, 2013 in London.Mark Robert Milan/FilmMagic

Mark Robert Milan/FilmMagic

Payne’s first public relationship was with Peazer, whom he started dating in 2010 when he was 17 years old and she was 22. Peazer was a dancer onThe X Factor, where she met Payne as he competed on the show.

The two went on to date for three years, before calling it quits in 2013. After Payne’s death, Peazer posted atouching tributeonInstagram, writing that at one point, the late singer was her “favorite person in the whole world,” while recognizing they still had their differences. “You could also wind me up so much and I probably annoyed the hell out of you sometimes too,” she wrote.

She went on to reflect on their relationship, explaining that though it ended over a decade ago, the two remained friends through the years and stayed in contact.

Peazer has since been in a relationship with radio DJ Sonny Jay and the two welcomed a daughter, Mia, together in May 2024. The backup dancer shared that she spoke to Payne as recently as a few weeks before his death, in which he took the time to congratulate her on her growing family.

“Receiving a message from you a couple of weeks ago expressing your happiness for the love I found with Sonny and Mia is something I’ll cherish forever,” she wrote.

Sophia Smith

Liam Payne and Sophia Smith attend the Infiniti Red Bull Racing Energy Station at Monte Carlo on May 21, 2015 in Monaco.Karwai Tang/Getty

Karwai Tang/Getty

“I didn’t actually go out with her at the time [when we were younger],” Payne said in a September 2015 interview withAttitude. “I used to see her at school and we’d kind of chat. I asked her sister for her number. She was very shy and didn’t give much indication that she liked me, so I just assumed that she wasn’t interested, as well as thinking, she was way too hot for me anyway.”

The two even talked about marriage, he said, though ultimately decided against it as both were in their early 20s at the time.

“Sophia needs to go off and do what she wants to do," he said. “I don’t want her to be one of those stay-at-home girlfriends who doesn’t really do much.”

Due to his busy touring schedule and their busy lives, Payne and Smith ultimatelybroke up in October 2015, a source confirmed to PEOPLE at the time.

Cheryl Cole

David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty

Though Payne and Cole, an English singer part of the girl group Girls Aloud, had first met at Payne’sThe X Factoraudition when he was 14, it wasn’t until late 2015 that thetwo started dating.

Cole was a judge on the show when Payne auditioned the first time, and again when he reapplied when he was 16 (Cole was 26 at the time). In a May 2017 interview onThe Radio 1 Breakfast Show, Payne said he and Cole “don’t like to talk about"their 10-year age gapand admitted that he “always, always had a crush on” the singer, even famously throwing her a wink at the end of his audition.

“I got back to school the next day and when my friends saw it they were literally ripping the piss out of me. Now they can’t say it didn’t work,” he said, joking, “The wink is powerful, it has powers beyond its own means. I have to be careful — it’s a licensed weapon in the UK.”

In November 2016, PEOPLE confirmed Payne and Cole wereexpecting their first child together, and their son, Bear Grey, wasborn on March 22, 2017. However, a year later, in July 2018, Payne announced thathe and Cole had splitand were focused on coparenting Bear together.

The two maintained a strong coparenting relationship since, and Cole posted a tribute to Payne after his death,asking the public for privacyas she admitted she was it was “breaking [her] heart” that she “cannot protect” Bear from seeing details about his father’s death.

Maya Henry

Liam Payne and Maya Henry attend the gala dinner in honour of Edward Enninful, winner of the Global VOICES Award 2019, during #BoFVOICES on November 22, 2019 in Oxfordshire, England.Stuart C. Wilson/Getty

Stuart C. Wilson/Getty

A month after breaking up with Cole, Payne was tied to model and influencer Maya Henry, though the two didn’t make their relationship Instagram official until September 2019. At the time they started dating, Henry was 18, and Payne was 24. By August 2020, the two confirmedthey were engaged.

However, a year later, the couple briefly split, with Payne confirming their break up onThe Diary of a CEOpodcast.

“I’m just not very good at [relationships] so I just need to work on myself before I put myself on to somebody else,” he said. “And I feel like that’s where I got to in my last relationship.”

“I definitely chose to forgive a lot of things,” she told PEOPLE, referring to her relationship with Payne. “When you love someone so much, you have those rose-colored glasses. You’re in denial, so you think those things will stop, and they don’t, and that just becomes an issue among other issues.”

Just a week before Payne’s death, Henryissued a cease-and-desist letter, according to theDaily Mail, explaining in aTikTokposted days before his fall that the singer allegedly repeatedly contacted her from different numbers following their breakup.

Kate Cassidy

Liam Payne and Kate Cassidy attend the Grand Reveal Weekend for Atlantis The Royal, Dubai’s new ultra-luxury hotel on January 21, 2023 in Dubai.Jeff Spicer/Getty

Jeff Spicer/Getty

Payne was first seen with Cassidy in October 2022 and was dating her at the time of his death in October 2024. In the days after, Cassidy posted a tribute on Instagram, writing that she was “at a complete loss.”

“Nothing about the past few days have felt real,” she continued. “I ask and pray that you’ll give me the grace and space to navigate this in private.”

source: people.com