Meet Perrie Edwards, Liam Payne’s fellow X Factor alum: ahead of her solo album release, the singer discussed the One Direction star’s death, the challenges of fame and her own mental health battles

Dec 4 , 2024

Meet Perrie Edwards: the Little Mix singer, who just went solo, dated One Direction’s Zayn Malik and recently spoke about Liam Payne’s tragic passing. Photo: @perriehq/Instagram

A member of English girl group Little Mix, Edwards spoke to broadcaster Fearne Cotton about her disbelief that the One Direction star is gone; we find out what she’s been up to over the past few years

The tragic news in October of One Direction star Liam Payne’s death left friends and fans reeling – including Little Mix singer Perrie Edwards, 31, who’s still coming to terms with the devastating loss of her fellow X Factor alum. After news broke of Payne’s sudden passing, the star opened up on Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast, voicing the surreal grief that the pop world is experiencing.

“It’s so heartbreaking, and my heart honestly hurts for his family, his friends, Cheryl [Tweedy, Payne’s ex and the mother of his child], his little boy,” she said, noting how deeply it has affected her and her Little Mix bandmates, and describing the eerie sadness rippling through her circle. Like One Direction, Little Mix was formed on reality TV music show The X Factor.

Perrie Edwards and her son Axel in October. Photo: @perrieedwards/Instagram

Payne, who died tragically after falling from a balcony in Buenos Aires, had a young son, Bear, with Tweedy, who was a member of Girls Aloud, a girl band that was also formed through a reality TV show.

For Edwards, the loss helps shed light on the mental toll associated with working in the entertainment industry. “Success is completely different to fame, and I think success is lovely,” she told the London Evening Standard. “But then the fame is like the awful side of it, it’s like the dark side of it that I think people don’t really see.”

Edwards was particularly close to One Direction, having dated and been engaged to Payne’s bandmate Zayn Malik. “We had a relationship with [One Direction], and it’s honestly so sad – like, it made my body feel weird when I saw the headlines.”

The former Little Mix star (the group has been on indefinite hiatus since 2022) also opened up about her own life. So what has Perrie Edwards been up to over the past few years?

She’s faced significant mental health challenges

Perrie Edwards in a promotional post for her single “Forget About Us”. Photo: @perrieedwards/Instagram

On the Happy Place podcast, Edwards opened up about her mental health, and the anxiety and panic attacks she experienced during her Little Mix days, which began during a trip to Las Vegas several years ago. “Since that trip, [the attacks] just kept coming,” she shared. “It got so bad, I had to ask my mum if she was going to put me in a mental institute.”