Liam Payne was reportedly "chilling out" just hours before his tragic death at the age of 31.
According to the Express UK, the One Direction member’s former performing arts teacher, Jodie Richards, shared that they had been exchanging messages shortly before he fell from the third floor of Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Wednesday, October 16.
"I spoke to him about five hours before it happened, so I am really shocked," she said, adding that she initially thought the news of his death was "fake."
"There was no cause for concern; he was having a chilled-out morning, so I'm not sure what happened," Richards, who taught Liam in his hometown of Wolverhampton starting at age 12, explained.
She recalled receiving a message from the Night Changes crooner around 4 a.m. and responding later, "What are you doing?" He replied, "I’m just chilling," and mentioned he was in Argentina. That was the last time she spoke to him.
"Everything Liam has achieved is remarkable. I'm proud as his teacher, but I'm also proud as his friend," Richards said of her late student, who became a globally acclaimed star after his breakout with One Direction.
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