Liam Payne‘s older sister Nicola has publicly paid tribute to the 31-year-old singer following his death.
On Monday (Oct. 21), five days after the One Direction star died after falling from the third floor of his hotel room in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nicola shared a carousel of photos of herself with Liam and other members of their family on Instagram, including snaps of him interacting with his niece, Ffion. “When I saw the news pop up on my phone that you had left us I went cold,” she wrote. “I wanted so much for this to be untrue.”
“I have spent days hoping that it was a mistake and somebody has got it wrong,” Nicola continued. “You were truly too good for this earth, you are an angel who just lived for making people smile and happy.”
Nicola went on to praise her “brilliant” baby brother and defend him against public misconceptions about his character, writing, “Unfortunately this cruel world is always [too] quick to judge someone from a few 5 second clips, they then think it entitles them to be able to speak like they know you.”
“We knew you and we loved you,” she added. “I hope you have finally found peace up there and that you’ll continue to look after us all as you have done in life. We will make sure Bear knows about his daddy and how much you loved him, we promise this.”
Liam died Oct. 16, and is survived by his 7-year-old son, Bear, whom he shares with ex-partner Cheryl Cole. In the days since his death, countless friends, fans and family members have posted messages of grief, including all four of the musician’s former bandmates: Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik.
The “Strip That Down” singer’s other older sister, Ruth Gibbins, also shared a statement two days before Nicola. “Liam, My brain is struggling to catch up with what’s happening and I don’t understand where you’ve gone,” Gibbins wrote Oct. 19. “I just want to drive to your house and walk in to music blasting and find you sat there writing a song.”
