Nicole Scherzinger has divulged the subject of the final text conversation she had with her protégé Liam Payne the day he died.
Liam’s world-famous boy band One Direction was initially grouped together on The X Factor UK, where Nicole was serving as a celebrity judge.
The 47-year-old Pussycat Dolls songstress took Liam under her wing and remained a source of guidance to him until his tragic death aged 31 in Buenos Aires last year.
He suffered a fatal fall off a hotel balcony last October, and a subsequent toxicology report revealed alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system.
After receiving the shattering news, Nicole still went onstage that night in her revival of Sunset Boulevard, composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who revealed that same month that she had texted Liam on the last day of his life.
Now Nicole has finally revealed what she discussed with the young man she helped shepherd to stardom, in an interview with the Times of London.
Nicole Scherzinger has divulged the subject of the final text conversation she had with her protege Liam Payne the day he died; pictured this April
‘I’d known he was in Argentina. It was just chit-chat and pretty light,’ she said in a new profile for the publication published this week.
One of Liam’s last projects was an X Factor-style reality show called Building the Band, on which he and Nicole worked with Kelly Rowland as celebrity mentors.
‘I just adored Liam. He had such a good heart. I barely knew him when I put One Direction together. I just saw these talented boys and was like: “I’m coming out of a girl group – I know the power of a group,”‘ said Nicole.
She also reflected on the professionalism that drove her to go on with her performance of Sunset Boulevard the day Liam died.
‘The show must go on. From then on, I dedicated a little part of the show to Liam every night. Just a little moment that always made me think of him,’ she said.
When she was asked if Liam’s death made her contemplate her own life as a public figure, she said: ‘We need more compassion in the world. Our phones are our enemies as much as they help us. I wish we’d cancel cancel culture.’
Weeks after Liam died, she herself was subjected to a torrent of social media blowback over a comment she left on a post by comic Russell Brand.
Russell had posted an image of a MAGA-style hat reading: ‘Make Jesus First Again,’ to which Nicole commented: ‘Where do I get this hat!!!?’ on America’s Election Day.
Liam, pictured in 2023, suffered a fatal fall off a hotel balcony last October, and a subsequent toxicology report revealed alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system
One of Liam’s last projects was a reality show called Building the Band, on which he and Nicole worked with Kelly Rowland as celebrity mentors; all pictured behind the scenes
Left-leaning fans flew into a frenzy, accusing Nicole of publicly endorsing Donald Trump, but the controversy did not put a dent in ticket sales for her Sunset Boulevard revival, which in fact enjoyed an increase in revenue that week, via Deadline.
About a week after Liam’s fall from the balcony, Sunset Boulevard composer Andrew Lloyd Webber revealed Nicole had been texting him the day he died.
‘I suppose something that hasn’t been said, and I suppose I could say, is that of course she mentored Liam, from One Direction. On the Wednesday when he died, she was still texting him that day,’ he spilled to Billboard.
Andrew, whose shows include Cats and The Phantom of the Opera, showered praise on Nicole for going onstage right after receiving word of Liam’s death.
‘She’d just heard that he died, and the fact that she even did the show at all is extraordinary,’ said the six-time Tony winner.
‘I mean, she is an amazing, amazing woman. She is without any question one of the finest performers I’ve ever worked with,’ added Andrew.
