Liam Payne’s comments about his son, Bear, in August have taken on a new meaning following the singer’s tragic death.
The former One Direction member talked about his 7-year-old child publicly for the last time on his Instagram story as he celebrated his 31st birthday on Aug. 29.
“I didn’t get any dad socks yet though,” Payne told his followers in the video. “I’m going to speak to my son in a little bit which I’m really excited about.”
“Bless him. He’s getting so big now,” the late star added about Bear. “He’s a big boy and he looks like a mini me. As if we needed any more me in the world.”
Payne welcomed his son in March 2017 with singer Cheryl Cole, when Payne was 23 years old.
The former couple met in 2008 when Payne audition for “The X-Factor UK” for the first time. Payne made it onto the show two years later, when Cole, 41, was still a judge, and he became a member of One Direction formed by Simon Cowell.
Payne and Cole did not start dating until 2016, following Cole’s split from ex-husband Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini.
The singers later broke up in July 2018 but remained amicable co-parents to Bear.
Cole has yet to speak out about Payne’s death.
The “Strip That Down” singer fell to his death from the third floor of his hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Wednesday.
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Medical officials confirmed that Payne had a “cranial fracture and extremely serious injuries that led to his immediate death.”
Witnesses told TMZ Payne was acting “erratic” before his sudden passing. He allegedly smashed his laptop in the hotel lobby and was carried back to his room before the fall.
He arrived in Argentina earlier this month to see his former bandmate Niall Horan in concert.
In December 2020, Payne revealed that he had “to learn” how to be a dad.
“I had my son at a young age, and you think it will be a magical thing, that you’re going to grow up one day into the person you’re supposed to be,” he told People at the time. “But it took a lot to find my footing. I figured, Dad takes care of everyone, that’s what he does, so my thing was to cook.”
In 2022, Payne told the outlet that he sees Bear “two times a week, three times a week sometimes.”
“And I make sure when I see him, he has 100% of my time,” the “Night Changes” singer added. “I make sure that I’m not on my phone or dicking around somewhere else.
So, I like to give him those moments and it’s important, he needs that in his life, he needs his dad in his life, and I’m happy he looks at me like a superhero, and I’m hoping to keep it that way.”
Payne previously revealed that the inspiration for his son’s name came from one of the midwives who called the child “Bear” in the delivery room.
“He had this thing where if they don’t have a good cry, they get fluid in their lungs, which is quite serious, so he was like going ‘grrrr,’ ” Payne recalled on “The Late Late Show with James Corden” in 2017.
He went on, “I had like 10 doctors come in the room, and in the end, the guy was just like, ‘Dude, I’m not being funny. There’s nothing wrong with him. He just likes to make a lot of noise.’ And that’s carried on ever since, so he just became Bear.”
