Liam Payne's girlfriend Kate Cassidy has revealed her intention to start dating again, 18 months after the tragic death of the One Direction star. The 27-year-old influencer was in a relationship with Payne for two years before he passed away at the age of 31 in October 2024, following a fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with alcohol and cocaine in his system.
Public Grief and Moving Forward
Cassidy has been open about her grief on social media, often sharing her feelings with followers. On Friday, April 24, she admitted she feels it is time to move on. Speaking on Instagram, she said: "I am ready to start dating again. It has been a year and a half since Liam passed away. I think that love after loss is a big chapter within your grief journey and I don't know how that is going to feel."
She added: "But I do know that I loved being in love. I want to have kids one day, I want to have a family and I know Liam would want that for me and if the roles were reversed I would want him to be happy and fall in love again."
Always Loving Liam
Cassidy emphasized that her love for Payne will never fade, regardless of who enters her life. "I will always love Liam and that will never change no matter who I meet and who comes into my life. I am going to think about Liam on my wedding day, I am going to think about him everyday for the rest of my life and that goes without saying," she stated.
Earlier this month, Cassidy teased her desire to date again in a TikTok video, tagging the network behind the US dating reality series The Bachelorette and asking to be chosen for the show. In the clip, she danced for the camera and wrote: "Heard they're looking for a new Bachelorette.... hi."
Accepting the Past
In a previous TikTok video, Cassidy spoke about love after loss, saying: "I want to make something clear. Whoever I end up with in my future will have to accept the fact I will always love Liam. I will always talk about Liam, I will always laugh about Liam, I will always cry about Liam. Let me tell you something, Liam Payne was my boyfriend. He wasn't just this famous figure to me."
She continued: "It hurts so bad because I am just criticised all the time for speaking about my boyfriend that passed away, the person that I loved and still do love. I would never settle for anyone in this lifetime who did not feel comfortable enough with me speaking about Liam. Liam was a very big part of my life. He was my best friend, somebody I really thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with and, obviously, I know one day I'm going to have to move on. I want to get married one day. I want to have kids."
Cassidy concluded: "When a person dies, they die twice, once when they actually die and the second time when you stop speaking about them. I'm not going to have Liam die twice on me. I will love him forever."
