"It is an erasure of the very conditions that contributed to the mental health struggles of multiple artists, including Liam, myself, and many others"
By Laura Molloy 28th November 2025
Liam Payne in 2016. CREDIT: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
Former The X Factor contestant Katie Waissel has responded to Simon Cowell‘s recent comments about attempts to blame him for Liam Payne’s death.
- READ MORE: Liam Payne 1993-2024: One Direction star who helped spark a pop phenomenon
Payne, the solo artist and former One Direction member, died last October following a fatal fall from a third-floor balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Argentine prosecutor’s office revealed that the 31-year-old’s cause of death was due to multiple traumas and internal and external bleeding.
Cowell played a major role in Payne’s career, signing One Direction to his Syco label after their third-place finish on the 2010 season of The X Factor, on which Cowell was the head judge. The group went on to record five studio albums and sell over 70million records worldwide.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Cowell recently recalled his final meeting with Payne, saying: “When I heard the news, it really hit me. I saw him a year before this happened. He came over to my house. We talked about his son and being a dad.
“I remember saying, ‘Music is not everything. Don’t let it run your life anymore. Find something else that you are passionate about.’ You ask yourself that question: ‘Could I have done anything more?’”
Cowell went on to reflect on what “would’ve happened” to Payne if he had not been in One Direction, and he opened up about a conversation he had recently with Payne’s parents.
He said: “’What would’ve happened to Liam if he hadn’t been in the band?’ Having spoken to his mum and dad recently, all they kept telling me was he was so proud of what he had achieved.
“I wish I could turn back the clock, of course. When I spoke to him that day, I felt really good about him. I thought, ‘Wow, you seem in a really good place.’”
Now, Waissel, who was on The X Factor during season seven – the same season in which One Direction was formed – has responded to Cowell’s comments.
Writing on X, Waissel said: “While [Cowell] expresses personal sadness and regret, his statements present a distorted and incomplete account of the reality experienced by many of us who were held via contract under his structures.
She went on to allege “duty-of-care failures, coercive pressures, and systemic harms” that she and other contestants experienced “under Cowell’s management umbrella”.
“In 2010 none of us were in a position to speak out,” she continued. “We were young, isolated, tightly contracted, bound by NDAs, and operating in what can only be described as survival mode. The power imbalance was absolute. The conditions were psychologically suffocating. We lacked the language, the support, and the legal understanding to identify, let alone challenge, what we now know were serious safeguarding and ethical breaches.
“For Cowell to publicly present himself today as reflective, concerned, and wounded — while omitting the systemic pressures, relentless work schedules, emotional manipulation, public shaming structures, and unregulated high-stress environments that defined our experiences — is not merely selective storytelling. It is an erasure of the very conditions that contributed to the mental health struggles of multiple artists, including Liam, myself, and many others.”
Waisell went on to say: “What happened to us was structural, patterned, and deeply harmful,” adding, “to suggest otherwise is to reframe tragedy as unexpected, when in truth many of us were shouting — privately, then publicly — about the same mechanisms of harm long before the world lost Liam.
“If Cowell wishes to have public conversations about loss, duty, and the “what ifs,” then it is vital those conversations include the full truth, not the curated fragments currently being offered.”
NME have reached out to representatives for Cowell for comment. You can read her full statement below.
MY REBUTTAL TO SIMON COWELL’S ROLLING STONE STATEMENT
I am writing in response to Simon Cowell’s recent remarks in Rolling Stone, in which he references the tragic loss of my friend and fellow 2010 XFactor contestant Liam Payne and reflects on his time overseeing the management…
— Katie Waissel (@katiewaissel24) November 26, 2025
After Payne’s death last year, Waissel called for more “care and support for young artists” and said his passing was “a painful reminder of the systemic neglect that persists in the industry.”
In 2023, Waissel – who is now a lawyer – sued Cowell’s record company Syco Entertainment over an alleged breach of duty of care while she was on the series.
Waissel also launched O.W.H.L, a pioneering platform “within the creative industries, establishing a transparent network where members verify and vouch for each other, ensuring safety and accountability in collaborations” (as per the website’s about page).
It is with a profoundly heavy heart that I share this statement on the tragic loss of my dear friend, Liam Payne. We first met in 2010 on The X Factor, where Liam became my confidant and my rock, offering unwavering support during some of my darkest moments on that journey.
Liam…
— Katie Waissel (@katiewaissel24) October 17, 2024
At the time of Payne’s passing, Cowell shared an emotive tribute, writing: “You never really know how you feel about someone until a moment like this happens. Liam, I am devastated. Heartbroken. And I feel empty. And I want you to know how much love and respect I have for you. Every tear I have shed is a memory of you.”
He continued: “I wanted to let you know what I would always say to the thousands of people who would always ask me. What is Liam like? And I would tell them you were kind, funny, sweet, thoughtful, talented, humble, focused. And how much you loved music. And how much love you genuinely had for the fans.”
Payne’s One Direction bandmates – Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles – also shared a joint statement, in which they expressed their devastation after Payne’s passing and said that they would need time “to grieve and process the loss of our brother, who we loved dearly.”
Tomlinson also recently spoke out about Payne‘s death saying it was “impossibly difficult for him to deal with”.
Speaking to Rolling Stone UK, he said: “It was really, really, impossibly difficult for me to deal with losing Liam. Naively, I thought that because at this point, I’m relatively well versed in grief for my age, that it might soften the blow. [That was] super-naive. It’s very different. I’ve never lost a friend before.”
At the BRIT Awards in March, an emotional tribute video aired for the singer, with host Jack Whitehall saying it was time to honour “a very special person who meant so much to so many of the people in this room and to millions of you around the world.”
