Liam Payne’s grieving girlfriend Kate Cassidy is back in the US — and facing a very different lifestyle than the one she enjoyed with the One Direction star, according to friends.
Sources told Page Six that the singer was giving Cassidy, a 25-year-old social media influencer, $10,000 a month for living expenses and also generously allowed her to use his credit card for clothing and other expenses which regularly totaled around $25,000 a month.
Cassidy would often go shopping with Payne’s longtime stylist and friend Adele Cany, whose services were also funded by the singer, we’re told.
Cassidy started dating Payne in late 2022 and the couple had moved into a rental home in Wellington, Florida, only weeks before the 31-year-old star’s tragic fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 16.
The couple’s sprawling five-bedroom home in Wellington, South Florida, however, went back on the market for $9,950-per-month at the end of October, according to TMZ.
Earlier this week, Cassidy was pictured leaving an apartment in London where she had been staying since Payne’s passing in October.
In photos published on the Daily Mail, the influencer appeared downcast as a friend helped her load up a car with luggage ahead of her return to the US.
“Kate has money of her own, so it’s not like she’ll have nowhere to be. She doesn’t have the money that Liam had, of course, but she’s not broke,” a close friend of Cassidy’s told Page Six.
“She makes money through social media partnerships. She won’t be living the same lifestyle she was living with Liam, but she’s going to be OK.”
And while Payne’s multi-million dollar will has not been made public, the friend insisted Cassidy will not try to claim a penny.
“She says she’s not going to claim anything from his estate because they weren’t married and he has a son,” the friend told us, referring to Bear, Payne’s 7-year-old son with the English singer Cheryl.
“It’s not hers to claim. Of course, [Payne’s death causes] a financial setback, but her sadness has nothing to do with the money — she’s sad that she lost Liam. The money doesn’t matter in comparison. But she’ll have to move and regroup, and she’ll find a new place to live as she heals.”
Cassidy flew to the UK days after Payne’s passing to be with his family and friendsm and attended his funeral alongside the remaining members of One Direction at St Mary’s church in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.
She was comforted by her close friend, Damian Hurley, the son of Elizabeth Hurley, who posted on Instagram after the service: “Yesterday was breathtakingly sad. Sending all the love and strength in the world to Liam’s family, especially my @kateecass, of whom I’m immeasurably proud.”
Hurley was friends with both Cassidy and Payne and also posted a photo of himself and the singer hugging, calling him, “One of the sweetest men I’ve ever met. a devastating loss.”