Nicole Scherzinger will “forever cherish and treasure” the time she shared with late singer Liam Payne.
During the 2010 edition of The X Factor, the Pussycat Dolls star served as an on-off guest judge and helped Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh put together One Direction out of five solo auditionees; Liam, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson.
Nicole, who later became a full-time judge, kept in touch with Liam over the years and they recently worked together on a Netflix competition show called Building the Band alongside Kelly Rowland.
Posting a message to Liam on Instagram on Friday, Nicole wrote, “I will forever cherish and treasure the time we shared together, from fifteen years ago when One Direction was born, right up until just a few weeks ago.
“It was such a blessing to get to work with you recently. We shared the same love and passion for music and I will forever remember the meaningful and joyful conversations we had.”
The Don’t Hold Your Breath hitmaker, who posted two snaps of her, Liam and Kelly backstage at the show, admitted that she has been struggling to process his death but is grateful that she got to know his “kind heart, sweet soul and character”.
She concluded her post, “You brought so much joy, light, and laughter to the lives of those that truly knew you. I will ‘miss you’ my friend and carry you in my heart. My thoughts and prayers are with your family.”
Nicole’s post comes shortly after theatre mogul Andrew Lloyd Webber claimed to Billboard that she was texting Liam on the day he died, Wednesday 16 October.
According to Lloyd Webber, Nicole heard about the singer’s death hours before the opening night of her Broadway musical revival Sunset Boulevard, adding, “The fact that she even did the show at all is extraordinary.”
Liam died after falling from his hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was 31.
