History between Liam Payne and Naomi Campbell explored as model drops comment on Nicole Scherzinger's tribute post

On Friday, October 26, Nicole Scherzinger, the X Factor judge who met Liam Payne as a 17-year-old contestant in 2010, paid a heartfelt tribute to him in an Instagram post.

Naomi Campbell, who is a close friend of the X Factor judge, also commented on Scherzinger's post, paying tribute to the late One Direction member. According to The Mirror, Campbell and Payne playfully flirted with each other openly over Instagram comments five years ago, in 2019.

As per the BBC, Liam Payne died in a tragic fall accident from the balcony of his hotel room in the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 16. He was in South America on holiday to see his old bandmate, Niall Horan's show in Buenos Aires.

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Liam Payne and Naomi Campbell playfully flirted with each other in 2019

Nicole Scherzinger posted a picture with Liam Payne on Instagram on Friday, mentioning that should would "forever remember the meaningful and joyful conversations we had."

Naomi Campbell's comment on the post consisted only of four emojis: a heartbreak emoji, a praying emoji, and two doves with an olive branch.

As per The Mirror, the flirting between Liam Payne and Naomi Campbell started in 2019, with both recently out of a serious relationship. Campbell separated from her longtime partner, Skepta, in August 2018, while Liam and Cheryl Cole parted ways in June 2018.

The first public proof of their flirty banter emerged in January 2019 when the model posted a selfie on Instagram. Payne commented on the picture:

"perfection in a person... don't give me those eyes."

His comment was accompanied by a rose emoji, an eye emoji, and a kissy face emoji. Naomi followed suit soon afterward, getting into the comment section of a shirtless snap shared by the Strip That Down singer, writing: "beautiful soul."

Payne replied to her comment: "takes one to know one." His comment had a kissy face emoji attached to it yet again.

As per The Mirror, the very same month, Liam and Naomi were reportedly spotted together in public for the first time. They were in London's O2 Arena to attend the concert of a Nigerian artist, Davido.

In February 2019, the couple were reportedly seen together in a Ghana restaurant. They also left the nightclub Annabel's within minutes of each other.

Later, at the 2019 Brit Awards, as Jack Whitehall invited Payne on stage, the host cracked jokes about his unlikely courtship with the iconic model, calling him "Naomi Campbell's current squeeze" and teasing that he'd be "in a world of pain if he crossed her."

Several weeks later, when Campbell was grilled about her love life on Johnathan Ross's talk show, the model stated,

"I never discuss my personal life."

When the Both Ways singer was asked to "confirm or deny" if he had dated Naomi Campbell on Andy Cohen's show, Payne opted out of answering, claiming he would "plead the fifth" instead.

After the brief flirty banter with Campbell, Payne was involved with Maya Henry. The couple dated from 2019 to 2022.

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At the time of his death, Liam Payne had been dating influencer Kate Cassidy for two years. The couple had adopted a rescue dog together earlier in 2024 and named it Nala. Cassidy also joined the singer on his trip to Argentina. However, Kate returned to Florida on October 14, two days before Liam's tragic fall.

Kate posted an Instagram story to break her silence on her boyfriend's death six days ago, saying she had been "at a complete loss" about it and asking for space to navigate it all in private.