Liam Payne's sister shares heartbreaking post over backlash brother received

Almost a year after his death, Liam Payne is still very much missed, not least by his sister, Ruth Gibbins, who took to Instagram to share a heartbreaking message for her brother.

Ruth posted on her Instagram stories today (9 September) that Liam "should be here". Alongside a black and white photo of the former One Direction member smoking on a plane, she captioned the post the post with a sad message directed towards her brother about all the things she missed doing with him.

"You should be here, enjoying life, calling me with your random stories about your days, laughing at our kids poses for start of school and marvelling at how big they are now, playing darts with your friends, sharing and getting excited for your new music, you should be here Liam.

"The silence that your absence has in my life is the loudest thing I've ever heard. I feel sorry for anyone who understands this feeling."

At the end of August, the singer would have been 32, but sadly died in October 2024. Whilst on holiday in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Liam fell him his hotel balcony and tragically died. To mark his first birthday since his death, his family, including Ruth, came together to celebrate by enjoying activities he loved.

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Following the day, Ruth shared to her main Instagram page a series of images from their lives together. This included a screenshot of a story she posted the year before, in which she told her brother she didn't "know what I'd do without you". In the caption of the post she went into more detail about the last of his birthdays they spent together and how true her words still were.

"I wrote my instagram story sat next to [you] last year, I showed you (if it’s not on instagram, it didn’t happen) you read it and said ‘ditto’.

"There’s no difference in what I wrote then to now, from the bottom of my broken heart, I don’t know what I’m doing without you."

Other members of the family said similar, with Liam's sister Nicola posting that they went to the same bowling alley as the year before but this year "one huge part of our family is missing", whilst Kate Cassidy, who had been dating the musician at the time of his death, posted a tearful video of baking a cake for him.

Alongside the video, she wrote: "Happy birthday Liam. I know you still have the sweetest tooth in heaven. I’m not very good at baking these days."

Today's post from Ruth also referenced the picture of him smoking and recalled a time when the singer was "p***** off" withe the backlash he received because of it.

"This photo just popped up on my socials and has bought back memories," Ruth wrote. "I remember thinking at the time this photo was so cool... it is still one of the coolest photos of you, definitely one of my favourites (even though the backlash you got for smoking on a plane pissed you off at the time)."

If you have been affected by this story, Cruse Bereavement Support offers free help to make sense of how you are feeling. Click here for their website or call 0808 808 1677.

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