Liam Payne's ex-girlfriend, Danielle Peazer, has shared the touching final message he sent her "weeks" before his tragic passing.
The 36-year-old dancer was in an on-off relationship with Liam - who died on Wednesday (16.10.24) at the age of 31 after falling from a balcony in Buenos Aires - from 2010, when they met on 'The X Factor', until 2013.
Breaking her silence earlier this week, Danielle admitted she need time to “grieve privately”.
The mother-of-two has since posted a new tribute to the late One Direction star, revealing that he had contacted her prior to his death to let her know how pleased he was for her and the contentment she has found with her two children Sonny and Mia.
Danielle said that Liam's proudest achievement in life was not his global success with the chart-topping boy band, but becoming a father to his seven-year-old son Bear - whose mother is Girls Aloud star Cheryl, 41 – and later being an uncle to his sister Ruth's little boy.
Sharing a new photograph of her and Liam enjoying an ice cream on Instagram, she penned: "Whilst we all take the time to navigate in a world without Liam, it's important to remember that while he was adored by millions as a world famous musician for the last decade, he was also someone's son and brother for more than 30 years, a friend to so many and more recently an uncle.
"His most important role and something he was the most proud of out of all of his monumental successes was that he was a father. The thought that there is a now a child growing up without one of their parents is heartbreaking and unfair. To Liam's son Bear, as well as his parents and sisters, my love, thoughts and strength goes to you. The magnitude of this loss is incomprehensible and I will continue to support you in any way I am able to."
Danielle admitted she and Liam didn't always see eye-to-eye, but they always had each other's backs.
She continued: "LJP, This still doesn't feel real. Despite being aware of your struggles over the years, I hoped and prayed that this day would never come. But now we're all facing the reality of living a life without your presence. It's common at times like this for people to say 'I hope he knew how much I cared about him' but I know that you knew how I felt, it was one thing we were really good at - being brutally honest with our feelings for each other, whether the other wanted to hear it or not."
She went on: "At times you were my favourite person in the whole world, but you could also wind me up so much and I probably annoyed the hell out of you sometimes too. It was something we learned to accept of each other over 14 years, we could disagree on so many things yet still look out for each other in times of need and laugh about our disagreements and petty behaviour 10 mins later.
"Our relationship may have ended back in 2013, but that seemed to be just the start of our story. The things we went through and experienced from then all the way until last year could be described as unique to some and misunderstood by others, but I think deep down we always knew we'd have some sort of connection forever, no matter where our individual lives took us."
She described Liam as a people-pleaser and admitted he perhaps didn't realise that he was "more than enough for this world" as he was.
She reflected: "It took a little longer for you to figure out the person you wanted to be in order to be your happiest, but whilst most of us have our teens and twenties to learn about ourselves, you spent those years giving more to the world than you ever needed to. I wish you knew that you were always more than enough for this world without having to search for a role to play just to please others."
Sharing the final message he sent her before departing the world, Danielle concluded: "Thank you for teaching me about the importance of setting boundaries, and that I should always protect my heart. Receiving a message from you a couple of weeks ago expressing your happiness for the love I found with Sonny and Mia is something I'll cherish forever. I'm sorry your story didn't end differently, and I'm sorry you didn't ever get to share more of your magic with the world.
Rest easy my friend. Love Danielle."
