NEWS
Justin Bieber is empathizing with grieving fans following the death of Liam Payne.
Five days after the former One Direction star died at 31 years old after falling from the third story of his hotel in Buenos Aires, the “Sorry” singer reposted an emotional reel of videos taken at fan memorials for Payne all around the world via his Instagram Story on Monday (Oct. 21). “Just remember, you are allowed to grieve as a fan,” a voice-over on the video states.
“You are allowed to love someone you never met,” it continues. “You are allowed to admire someone for their art. You are allowed to cry, to pray, to feel like a part of you is gone. Even if they never knew your name, they changed your world.”
Over the video, the “Baby” artist added a simple heartbreak emoji.
As seen in the video shared by Bieber, fans have been gathering in London, Glasgow, Paris, Sydney, New York City and more locations to sing and cry together while mourning Payne with flowers, photos and candles. The musician died Oct. 16 and is survived by a 7-year-old son, Bear.
Payne is believed to have been alone when he died, according to a recent preliminary autopsy report. Moments before he fell to his death, a hotel manager called 911 to report that a guest was “overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol” and “destroying [their] entire room”; by the time police arrived in response, the “Strip That Down” artist had already fallen and suffered multiple fatal hemorrhages.
The initial autopsy also concluded that Payne likely had drugs in his system when he died, which new toxicology test results confirm. Among those substances was a recreational drug called “pink cocaine” — a mix of substances that often contains ketamine combined with MDMA, methamphetamine, cocaine, opioids and/or psychoactive substances — and authorities are currently investigating who provided Payne with the drugs.
Bieber is just the latest star to post in the aftermath of Payne’s death, with the late singer’s sisters, girlfriend and former One Direction bandmates all posting statements over the past few days. In 2022, Payne opened up about a time he met up with Bieber in a trailer to defuse perceived tensions between 1D and two-time Grammy winner, telling Logan Paul: “I was like, ‘Dude, I’ve always felt for you … I’ve done all the things you’ve done and I’ve never been caught for any of them.'”
Payne also said at the time that he’d told Bieber that they both “suffer from the same disease,” but that he’d at least had bandmates to lean on in hard times. “‘And I know in your camp you’re you and there’s no one like you, so you can’t turn around and have that shoulder,’” Payne recalled telling Bieber. “And he was like, ‘Bro, that’s giving me chills.’”
Suki Waterhouse has spoken candidly about how she found herself crying constantly after the birth of her daughter.
The singer and actress reflected on her experience as a mother more than two years after she and her partner, actor Robert Pattinson, welcomed their baby girl in March 2024.
During an interview with The Standard published on Thursday, Suki explained that motherhood has completely shifted her outlook on life.
"I think it's made me marvel at our humanness. It's so funny, even just your kid getting a fever, watching a little body recover from that, it's brought me down to what it is to be alive and I really love that," she said. "It feels very survivalist and medieval in a way, especially birth, birth is medieval."
The Daisy Jones & The Six actress, 34, shared that she was caught off guard by just how exposed and emotional she felt after giving birth to her daughter.
"I'm almost two and a half years in now, but when she was first born, I remember thinking that I can't believe everybody does this and I can't believe how vulnerable I feel," she told the publication. "I was crying all the time."
Suki continued, "It makes me cry now thinking about it. It was just... shocking."
The Notting Hill singer also admitted that she has never considered herself someone who cries easily, making those emotions all the more surprising.
"It's so f**king weird! I'm not a cryer! I'm so not an emotional person, I'm such a Capricorn. But being a mum just fed me up in such a sweet way," she stated. "It just absolutely broke open my heart, and I'm just madly in love and, despite my crying right now, I enjoy it so much and I'm so taken by my daughter and so in love with doing it with my partner and I just feel the preciousness of it very much."
Suki and Twilight actor Robert, 40, have been in a relationship since 2018 and announced they were expecting their first child together toward the end of 2023.
The pair have largely kept their romance away from the spotlight and have yet to publicly share the name of their daughter.
