Liam Payne gushed about ‘mini-me’ son Bear, 7, just 2 months before his tragic death

Liam Payne’s heartbreaking final public comments about his son, Bear, have gone viral in the wake of the former One Direction member’s death.

Two months before Payne suffered a fatal fall from his hotel balcony, he gushed about the 7-year-old via Snapchat.

“I didn’t get any dad socks yet,” the singer said in August while celebrating his 31st birthday. “But I am going to speak to my son in a little bit, which I’m really excited about. Bless him.”

Liam Payne gushed over his son, Bear, two months prior to his death. Instagram/babypayneupdates In August, the former One Direction member called the 7-year-old “big” via Snapchat. Instagram/Liam Payne

Payne, who shared his child with his ex-girlfriend Cheryl Cole, went on to share how “big” Bear was getting.

“He’s a big boy, and he looks like a mini-me, as if we need anymore me in the world,” he quipped at the time.

Cole, 41, gave birth to Bear in March 2017 and co-parented him with Payne after their split the following year.

“He looks like a mini-me,” Payne noted at the time. Instagram/liampayne The singer co-parented Bear with ex Cheryl Cole. WireImage

The Girls Aloud member has yet to speak out about her ex’s death.

Payne died Wednesday after falling from the third floor balcony of his Buenos Aires hotel room, fracturing his skull upon impact.

His “injuries were incompatible with life” and “led to his immediate death,” according to emergency doctor Alberto Crescenti.

Cole gave birth in March 2017. David M. Benett Payne and the Girls Aloud member broke up in 2018. Dave Benett/Getty Images for Uni

As the public await more thorough autopsy results, the hotel’s manager Esteban’s phone call to emergency operators has made headlines.

“We have a guest who is [allegedly] high and drunk; and when he is conscious, he is destroying his room and we need you to send someone, please,” the man said in audio obtained by Argentinian outlet La Nacion, noting a fear that “he might be endangering his life.”

Payne — who arrived in Argentina two weeks prior for his former bandmate Niall Horan’s concert and remained after his girlfriend Kate Cassidy’s departure — had been vocal about his addiction struggles in the past.

Cole has yet to comment on Payne’s death Wednesday at age 31. Snapchat/Liam Payne He fell to his death from his Argentinian hotel’s third-floor balcony. Amelia McGoldrick/MEGA

In June 2021, he said on the “Diary of a CEO” podcast that he “was very good at hiding” his “really, really severe” problem.

Page Six reported Wednesday that Payne had been “cycling through periods of ruinous behavior for a long time.”

When the “Strip That Down” singer went to rehab for 100 days in 2023, he cited Bear as a motivating factor in his recovery.

Prior to his fatal fall, the hotel’s manager issued an emergency call over a “high and drunk” guest. CasaSur Palermo Hotel The man, whose name was Esteban, was “scared [the guest] might be endangering his life.” AP

“I want to say thank you to him and his mum for giving me a little bit of freedom to go and get well in that moment because I had to,” he said in a YouTube video that July. “There’s no point trying to be a dad when you’ve got nothing to teach.

“I don’t think up until this point I really had much to say to him other than just caring for him very deeply and loving him deeply, which is obviously the most important thing,” he continued.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.