Simon Cowell, Who Formed One Direction, Honors Liam Payne: ‘I Feel Empty’

After canceling Britain’s Got Talent auditions Thursday to mourn Liam Payne, Simon Cowell is paying tribute to the late One Direction star. On Friday, Cowell, the music executive who helped form One Direction, issued a statement saying he felt “devastated” and “heartbroken” by the singer’s untimely death.

“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,” Cowell wrote. “This is so difficult to put into words right now.”

Cowell, who signed 1D to his Syco Records, said he wanted Payne to know what he would tell the “thousands of people” who’d ask about him. “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,” Cowell wrote.

Cowell then recounted Payne’s 1D journey, first competing on The X-Factor as a soloist before he returned to the competition show and was placed in One Direction. “I had to tell you when you were 14 that this wasn’t your time. And we both made a promise that we would meet again. A lot of people would have given up. You didn’t,” he wrote. “You came back, and within months, the whole world would know Liam.”

“And you never forgot the fans. I watched you spending so much time with people who had wanted to meet you. You really cared,” he added.

Cowell then revealed that the pair had met “just to sit and talk” last year and that they “reminisced about all of the fun times we had together.” Cowell said he shared how proud he was of Payne as a father.

“After you left, I was reminded that you were still the sweet, kind boy I had met all those years ago. I have met your son, Bear. He has your smile and that twinkle in his eyes that you have,” Cowell wrote. “And he will be so proud of everything you achieved. And how you achieved it.”

The new statement from Cowell comes hours after all four members of One Direction, individually and as a group, released tributes in honor of their late bandmate.

Harry Styles wrote on Thursday that “Liam lived wide-open, with his heart on his sleeve, he had an energy for life that was infectious.” Louis Tomlinson said that Payne “was somebody I looked up to everyday, such a positive, funny, and kind soul.” Zayn Malik wrote that “even though you were younger than me you were always more sensible than me, you were headstrong, opinionated, and gave no fucks about telling people when they were wrong.”

“Liam had an energy for life and a passion for work that was infectious,” wrote Niall Horan. “He was the brightest in every room and always made everyone feel happy and secure.”

On Thursday, the prosecutor’s office in Argentina shared a post-autopsy report revealing that the former One Direction member died of multiple traumas, internal and external bleeding, and a cranial injury as a result of his fall from the third story of the CasaSur hotel in Palermo. He was 31.