Overview

• Scherzinger told The Times that their last exchange on the day he died was light and casual, noting she knew he was in Argentina.
• She learned of Payne’s death shortly before a Sunset Boulevard performance in New York and quietly dedicated a moment to him in each subsequent show.
• Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber previously said she had been texting Payne that day and praised her for performing after receiving the news.
• Their relationship began when Scherzinger helped assemble One Direction in 2010 and continued as co-mentors on Netflix’s Building the Band, which aired in 2025.
• Payne died at 31 on October 16, 2024, after a fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, prompting tributes from Scherzinger that she later echoed in the interview.