Kate Cassidy, girlfriend of the late singer Liam Payne, has said that she is still struggling to come to terms with his death in October last year.
Liam Payne tragically died after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina. He was 31 years old. The One Direction star, who rose to fame as part of the boyband alongside Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles and Zayn Malik, was remembered at the Brit Awards last month, with the band winning 7 accolades at the Brits before their split.
A month ago, a court in Argentina dropped charges of criminal negligence against three out of the five people who had been charged in connection with Payne's death.
Admitting that she is struggling to come to terms with his death, Kate Cassidy, said that "sometimes it's hard to get out of bed".
Cassidy made this comments while speaking to ITV's Lorraine Kelly on her talk show to support the programme's mental health campaign, March4March. She said that Payne "was so open about his mental health", and she is supporting the awareness campaign because "he no longer can help people".
"I genuinely believe Liam, in a way, guided me to this campaign and wanted me to be involved in this, and to help other people", Cassidy continued. "I'm going through this healing journey, sometimes it's hard for me to get out of bed in the morning and something I don't want to do".
"But I have this responsibility and this obligation that I am almost in a way … I have no choice. I have to get out of bed [for my dog] Nala and whether it's a five-minute walk or 20-minute walk first thing in the morning", she added. "Either way, it just wakes me up and refreshes my mind instead of laying in bed all day just scrolling through social media or old photos. It gets me out of bed and really, really helps my mindset and my mental health".
Elsewhere, Kate Cassidy revealed that she is "still working on accepting the fact that he's not here anymore".
"It's hard for me to refer to him in the past tense, and when I do refer to him in the past tense it almost stings that little bit more because … it just … it's more official", she added.
Cassidy also explained that she has her "harder days, but I'm surrounded by such a great support system that I cannot thank enough".
Last November, Liam Payne was laid to rest at a private funeral in Buckinghamshire, which was attended by his former One Direction bandmates. More on this here.
