Sobbing from the front seat of her car, voice cracking, dyed blonde hair pulled back into a bun, American social media star Kate Cassidy says: ‘Today is just so sad. I miss him so much. I miss him every day and today is even harder.’
The footage, posted to Instagram on Valentine’s Day this year, was filmed a year ago on February 14, 2025 when the sudden death of Cassidy’s boyfriend was still extremely raw.
But then something bizarre happens. After showing her distress so openly, the video jumps forward in time by a year to February 14, 2026 and shows a now-smiling Kate hugging huskies, posing in skimpy outfits and laughing in the snow with her arms aloft while on a luxury holiday in Finland.
The contrast could not be more stark. And yet, perhaps we should not be surprised. For Kate’s followers are all too used to this whiplash-inducing blend of celebratory holiday snaps, makeup adverts and teary videos remembering her late boyfriend, the former One Direction star Liam Payne, who fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires on October 16, 2024.
This unusual mix of candidly emotional and airbrushed professional content has led sources close to the Payne family to accuse her of ‘cashing in’ on his death. ‘It’s very sad to watch,’ said an associate of his last year. ‘She seems to raise his name whenever it suits her.’
In one such bizarre video posted to TikTok only this week, Cassidy, wearing a green silk pyjama set, sits in a large trough of rose quartz – some believe the rock can ‘ward off negative energy’ – and attempts to light a candle.
Kate Cassidy’s followers are all too used to a whiplash-inducing blend of celebratory holiday snaps, makeup adverts and teary videos remembering her late boyfriend
The caption reads: ‘I filmed this trying to light a candle for my late boyfriend but it looks like I’m doing a ritual.’
The video has been viewed more than 150,000 times.
And in September last year, Cassidy courted controversy when she posted AI-generated images of herself with Payne – whom she had dated for two years before his death. It dismayed a former music business colleague of his who branded the images ‘distasteful’ and ‘a bit much’.
Certainly, his friends, fans and family could be forgiven for thinking Cassidy is making a very public spectacle of her grief.
But they are also asking: what’s in it for her?
The truth is that Cassidy, who was working as a waitress in South Carolina when she met Payne, makes the majority of her income by advertising luxury brands on social media and promoting products to fans.
Posts about Liam Payne drive engagement on her profiles, increase her followers and ultimately make her more money.
And with 2.7million followers across her profiles, Cassidy could well be making hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars a year – especially given that she has recently signed to a controversial new agency. But more of that later.
While Cassidy, 26, continues to publicly reminisce about her special and loving relationship with the 31-year-old British singer, I can reveal that all may not have been as it seemed. Last year, I travelled to Argentina to speak to the young waiter Braian Paiz, 26, who met Payne on October 2, 2024, while waiting tables at an exclusive restaurant in the dockside district of Puerto Madero.
Later that night, Payne invited him to his hotel room, and Paiz, who is gay, obliged.
They met again, two days before Payne’s death, when he delivered drugs to the singer’s hotel room and they spent, Paiz told me, an ‘intimate’ night together.
Her unusual mix of candidly emotional and airbrushed professional content has led sources close to Liam Payne's, right, family to accuse Kate of ‘cashing in’ on his death
Payne, who had been in and out of rehab for years for drink and drug addiction, was in a state of semi-consciousness or unconscious when he fell from the third-floor balcony of his suite at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel.
A post-mortem examination ruled his death was caused by ‘multiple trauma’ resulting in ‘internal and external haemorrhage’, while the toxicology report revealed that his body contained traces of cocaine, alcohol and a prescription antidepressant.
In the ensuing investigation, Paiz was arrested and accused of selling cocaine to Payne.
He remains in prison awaiting charges. Today I can reveal that he insists that when he visited the singer’s hotel room during that fateful stay, there was no sign that Kate Cassidy was staying there with him. ‘I didn’t see her at the hotel,’ Braian told me by phone from his prison cell.
‘There were no signs that she was there – no purse or belongings that would suggest her presence.’
Could it be that the pair weren’t quite as devoted to one another as Kate has so insistently made out?
Payne had been paying up to $35,000 a month to Cassidy before he died, a stipend that has since been halted. Furthermore, Cassidy is not to receive a penny of the star’s £24.3million estate after he failed to leave a will.
The entire sum instead will go to his son Bear, eight, whom he shared with former Girls Aloud star Cheryl Tweedy.
After they met in 2022, their relationship was, according to Cassidy, a ‘fairytale romance’ – and one that turned the soon-to-be 27-year-old into a household name on social media. The pair lived together in Florida while Payne fought his well-documented battles with addiction, eventually travelling together to Argentina while he renewed his US visa.
Kate, as we know, left Buenos Aires on October 14 2024, two days before her boyfriend’s fatal fall. Despite claims that she left after the pair had an argument, Cassidy says she returned to their Florida home alone to take care of their dog, Nala.
She would later claim: ‘Liam was in such a good headspace when I left.’ This, however, seems an odd assessment given his erratic behaviour, including smashing his laptop, ordering prostitutes to his room and consuming a cocktail of illegal drugs.
If Paiz is right and they were not staying in the same hotel, that might seem strange behaviour for a couple so, as Cassidy suggests, in love and so frequently displaying that love to the world via social media. And more than 16 months after his death Cassidy’s stream of posts about her late boyfriend show no sign of slowing down.
Kate at Liam Payne's funeral in 2024. Posts about Liam Payne drive engagement on her profiles, increase her followers and ultimately make her more money
For I can also reveal today that, after losing her $35,000 monthly allowance from him, she has taken things a step further in her pursuit of continuing online stardom by hiring the services of a woman previously accused of exploiting young models, wage theft and even publishing revenge porn.
Cassidy posts up to two or three times a day for her Instagram followers. Many of these images and videos come with a disclaimer that they are adverts – in other words, posts she has been paid to share by fashion or beauty brands.
This week, she shared a video using makeup from Kylie Cosmetics, Kylie Jenner’s label, in which she proclaimed the products are the reason her makeup ‘does not move all day’. In Cassidy’s Instagram description box is an email address listed as kate@thegoldenchild.com. Beneath that is a link to her page on a website called The Golden Child.
The page is packed-full of affiliate links to luxury products such as a £1,500 Chanel clutch bag, £400 Celine sunglasses and £600 Gianvito Rossi crystal-embellished metallic sandals.
If someone clicks through to buy any of those products, Kate will get a cut.
The Golden Child page also points followers to her other social media accounts, as well as to an interview she gave to well-known British ‘life coach’ and podcaster Jay Shetty in which she shared her grief at losing Payne and talked about trying to move on.
But who exactly is behind The Golden Child brand promoting Cassidy’s new career as an influencer?
Despite listing its address as Los Angeles, there is no company registered in the state of California under that name.
However, in September 2024, The Golden Child was registered as a trademark for the purpose of: ‘talent agency services, namely, management of models’ as well as ‘business management of models; advertising, marketing and promotional services [etc]’. In other words, this trademark clearly corresponds to the otherwise unregistered company, Golden Child, being used by Cassidy to assist in self-promotion.
And this is where the plot thickens. For the trademark is registered to a woman called Tara Niknejad, resident of Los Angeles. The Daily Mail can reveal that Tara Niknejad is the legal name of Tara Electra, an American entrepreneur famous in influencer circles. Ms Electra set up the Unruly Agency which also specialises in social media management, ‘content creation’ and influencer promotion of glamour models and OnlyFans stars. So why did Cassidy register with Tara’s other obscure company The Golden Child, when she could have signed with the much more established Unruly Agency?
Perhaps it is because Tara Electra has been previously named in court documents relating to Unruly in which she – and former business partner, American entrepreneur Nicky Gathrite – have been accused of everything from operating as ‘modern day pimps’ to sharing revenge porn and wage theft to wrongful termination.
In November 2021, two women – referred to as Elizabeth Machabeli & Jane Doe – alleged that Unruly ‘exploited the company’s employees as independent contractors, thereby stealing millions of dollars in unpaid wages from them’, according to a lawsuit.
Both women, believed to be influencers or online content creators, then claimed to have been fired for raising the issue.
Intriguingly, the documents also claim the majority of women represented by Unruly work as models on the pornographic website OnlyFans.
There has been no reported outcome to the case and the claimant’s lawyers refused to comment to the Mail.
Kate pictured with Payne in 2022. She now posts up to two or three times a day for her Instagram followers, many of them coming with a disclaimer that they are adverts
It is not unusual in the US for such cases to drag on for years or settlements with no admission of liability to be reached privately.
Also in 2021, a well-known but anonymised swimsuit model filed a lawsuit against Unruly Agency accusing it of ‘distributing a nude photograph of her on the internet’ which in turn damaged her career and, understandably, caused severe emotional distress.
A third case from the same year, again brought by an anonymous claimant, alleges that after hiring Unruly to help with her OnlyFans account, the agency took control of her finances, leaked sexually explicit content without her consent and threatened her with ‘humiliation and financial ruin’ if she ever attempted to leave the Unruly stable.
Attorney Robert Tauler, acting for Tauler Smith LLP, described Unruly as ‘modern day pimps’ who ‘operate in the shadows of the cloistered Covid economy’.
Court papers claim Unruly ‘are engaged primarily in the sexual exploitation of young women though time-tested methods of coercion, control, humiliation, and abuse.’
It is important to clarify that to our knowledge, neither Tara Electra nor Unruly has been found guilty in a court and they deny all the accusations. The truth is therefore unknown.
Tara Electra did, however, confirm to the Mail this week that ‘we do represent Kate Cassidy for 360 management’.
One would have to expect Cassidy, who also did not respond, is aware of the accusations against Electra and her Unruly brand.
However, it may be the case that the former waitress’s need for money is her top priority. After all, she admitted to fans that she was only able to attend Payne’s funeral in November 2024 after a friend paid for her airfare.
Cassidy said herself after Payne’s death: ‘I’m never going to let anybody tell me how my relationship was with Liam.’
However, as she continues to post about him online, it is those closest to the One Direction star who Cassidy must perhaps convince of her true intentions.
