Kate Cassidy has remembered Liam Payne on what would have been the former One Direction star’s 33rd birthday, sharing a series of private photographs from their relationship.
Cassidy posted the tribute on Instagram on Saturday, August 29, alongside images of Payne with their rescue dog Nala, enjoying nights out and spending time at home.
“Your birthday will always be your day. Loving you, remembering you, missing you always. Happy birthday Liam,” she wrote.
The couple had been together for around two years before Payne died aged 31 on October 16, 2024, after falling from a third-floor balcony at the CasaSur hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Cassidy had travelled to Argentina with Payne earlier that month but returned to Florida shortly before his death. The pair had attended a concert by Payne’s former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan during the trip.
Her latest tribute comes weeks after she showed followers the removal of a “444” tattoo from her hand. The number had a particular significance for the couple and was described as their “angel number”.
Cassidy filmed herself wearing protective goggles at a Miami tattoo-removal studio before sharing footage of the laser treatment. She later explained that the ink was being removed because it had been done too heavily, rather than because its meaning had changed.
She said the tattoos were among the first she had received and that she intended to have them redone by a specialist in fine-line tattoos. Cassidy also has other tattoos linked to Payne, including his initials, “LP”, and designs representing angel wings.
The number 444 featured in a handwritten note Payne had given Cassidy before his death. In it, he wrote of his hopes that they would become engaged and marry within a year, ending with the words: “Me and Kate to marry within a year/engaged and together forever 444.”
Cassidy has continued to speak publicly about her grief. Earlier this month, she became tearful while reading old letters Payne had written to her, including one connected to a car he bought her for her birthday.
She said the letters sometimes made her feel as though he was communicating with her “from heaven”, adding that reading them encouraged her to keep working towards her future.
The circumstances surrounding Payne’s death remain the subject of a criminal case in Argentina. Prosecutors have said two people were sent to face an oral trial accused of supplying him with drugs in the days before his death, while other defendants were cleared at an earlier stage of the proceedings.
