Liam Payne’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy is facing backlash from fans.

She recently joined in on a viral trend which involves people demonstrating their strength by lifting someone else up single-handedly. Kate shared a clip showing her friend attempting to hoist her up but ends up dropping her instead.

Kate wrote in the caption: “Okay, maybe I do need a man,” but the light-hearted video drew mixed reactions from One Direction fans, as some felt it was very ill-timed given the upcoming anniversary of Liam’s death. The singer sadly died on 16 October 2024 aged just 31 after falling from a third-floor balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

One disgruntled fan told her: “It so f***** up that one moment you sad about Liam and the next you complaining that you need a man but then you go back to using Liam name,” while a second wrote: “Doing and saying this five days before the one year of his passing is wild.”

Kate’s video showed her friend trying and failing to pick her up(Image: @kateecass/TikTok)

Despite the criticism, some people rallied around Kate and defended her against the comments. One supportive user chimed in: “Here’s the reality, she’s always going to grieve Liam’s loss. He will always hold a place in her heart, however she’s fully entitled to keep living and moving forward. One day she will find someone, and you lot will need to get over it. It’s her life, not yours,” reports the Mirror.

Someone else typed: “Do not listen to all these haters. They have no idea what they’re talking about. You’re beautiful, Kate, and strong. I love your videos and hearing you talk about your grief is so healing to so many people (including me) who go through the same battles every day.”

Liam and Kate were dating when the One Direction star unexpectedly died

Others saw the lighter side of the video and recognised it as a harmless: “You and Liam would have won this trend. Sending you love,” said one fan as another assured Kate: “I just know that Liam is laughing at this video in heaven.”

In a recent Instagram post Kate shared fan-created AI images of herself and Liam which show the late One Direction star with his arm around Kate. However, these images sparked yet another controversy among fans as many disapproved of the fake snaps.

In response, Kate took to TikTok to hit back at her critics, urging them to “stop judging people for how they grieve”.