Overview

• Ruth Gibbins posted a black-and-white photo of her brother and wrote that he "should be here," describing the silence left by his absence as "the loudest thing" in her life.
• She referenced past criticism of a plane photo showing Payne smoking, saying the backlash had irritated him at the time.
• The family recently marked what would have been Payne’s 32nd birthday with activities he loved, with relatives sharing memories from previous celebrations.
• Payne died in October 2024 after a fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires at age 31, and a UK inquest later recorded the medical cause as polytrauma.
• His November funeral in Buckinghamshire was attended by Cheryl and former One Direction bandmates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson.