'Extremely numb' Kate Cassidy recalls her final goodbye with Liam Payne almost a year after his tragic death

Kate Cassidy has opened up about her final moments with Liam Payne, almost a year after his death. 

In an emotional video shared on TikTok, the 26-year-old influencer candidly spoke about her grief and recalled her last conversation with the former One Direction star. 

"I come on here not to cry – I feel honestly extremely numb today," Cassidy started the clip.

Watch the video above.

"I actually think somebody could slap me across the face and I wouldn't be fazed."

Cassidy explained that she wanted to make the video to reiterate how important it is to tell people you love how much you love them. 

"I know I say it, but you never know what tomorrow brings," she continued. 

She then recalled her final goodbye with Payne before she left Argentina last year, just four days before Payne's death at 31.  

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"I was sitting on the couch, just expressing to him how much I'm going to miss him, how much I love him," she said.

"Honestly, it's so weird to look back at because it was such a long, heartfelt goodbye. He looked at me and he said, '[Kate], you're going to miss your flight. You're acting like this is the last time you're ever going to see me again.' And little did I know, it literally was the last time I got to see him."

She became emotional as she spoke about the moment. 

"I'm so, so glad that me and Liam had that last goodbye the way it was," she added. 

Payne died on October 16, after he fell from the balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires. 

An autopsy revealed his cause of death was "polytrauma" meaning multiple injuries that involve multiple organs or systems, a toxicology report also confirmed that the singer had traces of "alcohol, cocaine and prescription antidepressants" in his system at the time of his death.

Cassidy and Payne were first linked back in October 2022 after attending a Halloween party together. 

They confirmed their relationship by going public, posing together at the British Fashion Awards months later in December.

The influencer has been struggling with grief as the anniversary of his death approaches. 

She recently posted AI generated photos of herself with Payne, but came under fire for sharing the images. 

"Please stop judging the way people grieve," she told her audience, telling them that she had seen the posts and news articles "bashing me for finding comfort and peace in seeing photos of me and Liam created with AI." 

She continued that none of the people slamming her had been in this position, adding "hopefully you never will be." 

"So please, please kindly stop telling me how to grieve and how I should be finding comfort and what I shouldn't be finding comfort in. Grief is so different for everyone. There is no right or wrong. Grief is not linear," she added.

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