Simon Cowell, người đóng vai trò quan trọng trong sự trỗi dậy của One Direction vào đầu những năm 2010, đã bày tỏ sự đau buồn về cái chết của Liam Payne.

The globally successful band that included Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik were first formed on Cowell's reality show, 'The X-Factor', in 2010.

Simon Cowell recalled a special moment with Liam Payne that occurred a year before the former One Direction member’s death. “You came to see me last year. Not for a meeting. Just to sit and talk. And we reminisced about all the fun times we had together.