Payne died at the age of 31 after falling from the third-floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, earlier this month and was found at the scene by police officers and emergency services. Speaking about Payne’s death on TV presenter Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast, Edwards, 31, said her group had a “relationship” with the singer’s boyband, after winning series eight of The X Factor in 2011, a year after One Direction were formed on the show and finished third. She said Payne’s death had felt “weird” and “absolutely devastating”.
Edwards told Cotton: “I think it just feels weird, it’s just so sad. “It’s so heartbreaking, and my heart honestly hurts for his family, his friends, Cheryl (Tweedy, the mother of Payne’s son Bear, seven), his little boy. “It’s just absolutely devastating, and I can’t even imagine how they must be feeling right now.
“I didn’t think it was real when I read it, and it’s a very weird space, and I think it’s in the air, everyone can feel it, it’s really sad. “Us girls were messaging, and I think Leigh-Anne (Pinnock, fellow Little Mix member) was like, ‘it’s very close to home’, our careers were very aligned. “We had a relationship with them (One Direction), and it’s honestly so sad, like it made my body feel weird when I saw the headlines, I was like that can’t be real.
“It shakes you up, it’s just blooming awful, and all of our hearts go out to to his family. It’s.
