Liam Payne’s tragic death has broken hearts all over the world after the singer fell from the third floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires yesterday.
The 31-year-old singer leaves behind his son Bear, 7, whom he shares with ex Cheryl.
The former One Direction star is said to have been ‘acting erratically’ before his tragic death with a member of hotel staff reporting ‘an aggressive man who may have been under the effects of drugs and alcohol’ to local police.
The Girls Aloud star, 41, who is no stranger to grief after losing her former bandmate Sarah Harding to breast cancer in 2021, will be grappling with grief as she comes to terms with the heartbreaking death of her son’s father.
The tragic circumstances are likely to even be bringing back some horrific memories for her, the Daily Mail reports.
For Cheryl, drugs have sadly impacted several of those closest to her, including her older brother Andrew Tweedy, who was found living in a tent on the streets in 2021, and her elder sister, Gillian, with the singer claiming her sibling was a teen drug user.
After TMZ made the horrific decision to publish pictures of Payne’s dead body, the snaps hark back to a harrowing image of one of Cheryl’s childhood pals, budding footballer John Courtney, who sadly passed away in 2005 from a heroin overdose.
The image was released by the 21-years-old’s family to warn other people from taking drugs. Speaking of her loss, Cheryl said: “It put me off drugs for life. That nightmare devastated all John’s family and friends.”
In the book Cheryl Cole: The Unauthorised Biography, John’s mother Angie wrote that the singer had wrote John a letter begging him not to destroy his life with drugs before he was found dead on April 2 2005.
This was not the first time Cheryl experienced a loved one suffer as a result of drug use. She reportedly dated furniture salesman Jason Mack between 2000 and 2002 before she became a part of Girls Aloud.
Jason, previously confessed he put his then girlfriend ‘through hell’ due to his drug addictions.
He told the Daily Mirror: “When I first met her [Cheryl] I was doing a lot of cocaine,’ he told the Daily Mirror. ‘Some days I’d blow £200 on the stuff, and I’d be drinking bottles of Bud from 8am until I crashed out at God knows when.”
Drugs have also impacted Cheryl’s immediate family as the mum-of-one wrote in her 2012 book ‘My Story’ that her elder sister, Gillian, allegedly turned to drugs at just 15-years-old to block out the shock of learning another man was her real father.
It was not suggested that Gillian had continued using drugs. Meanwhile, Cheryl’s brother, Andrew Tweedy was found living out on the streets in a tent and begging for money in 2021.
Speaking to The Sun at the time, Cheryl’s embattled brother said the singer, who has tried numerous times to get him clean, including funding a £20,000 stint in rehab to tackle his drug problems likely doesn’t know he’s homeless.
Andrew, who has a son, revealed he was forced to live on the streets when his relationship broke down earlier that year. The singer’s troubled brother has a long history with crime and has appeared in court over 50 times.
The Girls Aloud star has never publicly spoken about her heartache regarding her older brother but Andrew has acknowledged her unquestionable support on multiple occasions.
Speaking from his jail cell in 2008, he told the Sunday Mirror : “Cheryl wants to help me – but I’m too far gone. I know I’m breaking her heart, but I’m not strong enough to sort myself out.’
“It tears me up to think I’m causing my little sister so much pain. I’ve told Cheryl she should be ashamed of me, but she says she loves me and she’ll never give up on me.”
The tragedy of Liam Payne’s sudden death comes just three years after the death of Cheryl’s former Girls Aloud bandmate Sarah Harding.
Sarah passed away in 2021 from breast cancer and bandmates Cheryl, Kimberley Walsh, Nadine Coyle and Nicola Roberts returned for a tour this year for the first time since 2013 in Sarah’s honour.
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