Cheryl Celebrates a Birthday While Remembering Liam Payne

Cheryl put on a brave face as she enjoyed a night out ahead of the anniversary of her ex Liam Payne’s death. 

The Girls Aloud star celebrated her bandmate Nicola Roberts’ 40th birthday with an intimate dinner at the Lanesborough Hotel in London’s Belgravia.

Her rare appearance came just three days before the one year anniversary of her ex boyfriend’s tragic death.

The One Direction star, 31, died in Buenos Aires after falling from a third floor balcony at the Casa Sur Palmero Hotel on October 16, 2024.  A subsequent toxicology report revealed alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system.

On Monday night Cheryl joined Nicola, Kimberley Walsh and Nicola’s closest friends for the birthday celebrations. She was pictured leaving the five star hotel in an elegant black satin dress, paired with a tailored blazer and a chunky gold chain necklace.

It’s only the second time Cheryl has been pictured in public since the funeral of her ex-partner and father of her son Bear. 

Two weeks ago she once again supported best friend Nicola by attending the the gala night of her pal’s West End show Hadestown.  

But during the last 12 months Cheryl has kept a low profile as she navigates the tragic situation which left her son Bear, eight, without a father. 

She has also made a slow return to work in recent months, with just one announcement in August – a collaboration with skincare giant Nivea.   

Following Liam’s death Cheryl was granted the power of administration of his estate.

As he died without leaving a will, he was declared intestate. This means that as an unmarried parent his estate is shared between any children.

Friends and family spoke out afterwards and insisted Cheryl ‘will always do the right thing by her beloved son’. They expressed how he was adamant to make sure his only son would be well looked after in the event anything happened to him.

In contrast to Cheryl, Liam’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy has been very public in her grief for the star, often taking to social media to connect with her fans and share the signs she feels keep her close to the late singer. 

Since Liam’s death, Kate has set up her own account with brand creator Golden Child where she sells her favourite clothes and accessories such as Dior and Chanel handbags and Celine sunglasses. 

In return, she gets a cut from the brands. The influencer has also appeared on podcasts talking about her experience of grief. 

It is also believed that Liam’s death brought his band One Direction, which consists of Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Harry Styles, close again.

After sharing their respective tributes to Instagram in the days following his death, a month later his bandmates reunited at his funeral for the first time since their split in 2016 as they paid their respects to the late star. 

Last week though Louis Tomlinson confirmed that Liam’s death has ‘completely put a pin in’ a potential One Direction reunion as he revealed he doesn’t believe it ‘would be right’.

Whilst there is little hope for an imminent full band reunion, it has been revealed that Louis has teamed up with bandmate Zayn for a new Netflix multi-million pound deal. 

Louis is the only band member to have spoken about Liam’s death. Speaking to Rolling Stone UK, Louis said he still feels ‘frustrated that Liam’s not with us anymore’ as he discussed his shock passing.

He said: ‘It was really, really, impossibly difficult for me to deal with losing Liam. Naively, I thought that because at this point, I’m relatively well versed in grief for my age, that it might soften the blow.

‘[That was] super-naive. It’s very different. I’ve never lost a friend before.

A probe into Liam’s death remains open a year on. His medical cause of death was previously confirmed to be ‘polytrauma’, a term which means a person has multiple traumatic injuries to their body. 

In the aftermath Liam’s friend Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores, hotel operator Gilda Martin and receptionist Esteban Grassi faced manslaughter charges, although these were later dropped.

Hotel employee Ezequiel Pereyra, 22, and waiter Braian Paiz, 25, have been charged with supplying cocaine to the singer.

However, a trial date has not been set for the two suspects, as Argentinian authorities continue to wade through 800 hours of CCTV footage, mobile phones and laptops. 

Although Liam’s cause of death was determined to be multiple external and internal trauma injuries, a toxicology report found there were traces of cocaine, alcohol and prescription antidepressant in his system at the time of his death. 

The X Factor star had been in Buenos Aires for a holiday with girlfriend Kate where they attended his former bandmate Niall Horan’s concert. 

Kate flew back to the US four days before his passing, while Liam chose to remain in Argentina by extending his vacation. 

It has been alleged he turned to alcohol and substances, with allegations he was booted out of the Palacio Duhau, Park Hyatt, for disturbing guests, before he booked into the CasaSur Palmero Hotel. 

Eye-witnesses also alleged, just hours before his passing, the singer was ‘behaving erratically’, with the One Direction star appearing to be carried from the lobby by hotel staff in CCTV footage. 

Shortly before 5pm, the hotel manager had called Argentinian officials alleging Liam was under the influence and damaging his room, while also expressing worries the pop star would cause himself harm. 

Moments later, a loud bang was heard from the hotel’s courtyard where Liam was found. Another call was made for an ambulance. 

His death sparked global grief amongst fans of his music career, with fans holding vigils in the UK, US, Argentina and further afield.