Liam Payne reached out to his former mentor, Nicole Scherzinger, shortly before his untimely death.
The singer had been in contact with the Pussycat Dolls alum, 46, after being dropped by his record label, Universal Music.
In a recent interview with Billboard, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber shared insights about their final communications.
He mentioned, “On the Wednesday when he died, she was still texting him that day.” Scherzinger, who mentored Payne during his time on The X Factor UK in 2010, was one of the last people he reached out to.
Webber also noted that Scherzinger learned about Payne’s tragic passing just before her Broadway debut. He praised her strength, stating, “The fact that she even did the show at all is extraordinary. I mean, she is an amazing, amazing woman.”
Payne and Scherzinger’s bond began when she was a judge on The X Factor, where she helped connect him with his future One Direction bandmates:
Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, and Niall Horan. In a 2022 clip, Scherzinger reflected on the group, saying, “They’re just too talented to get rid of and they’ve got just the right look and charisma on stage.”
Before his passing, Payne and Scherzinger were working together on a Netflix series titled Building the Band, which had wrapped production in August.
Tragically, Liam Payne died on October 16 after falling from a third-floor balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A partial autopsy report revealed that the 31-year-old had substances, including cocaine, crack, and the antidepressant benzodiazepine, in his system at the time of his death.