The Kate Konundrum

Published on 6 January 2025 at 23:11

The Kate Konundrum

Warning: my thoughts interpretations and conclusions on what was going on behind the scenes with Liam and Kate and the media narratives mentioning her since Liam's death.

Many fans of Liam Payne and of One Direction will know the name Kate Cassidy. In fact if you’ve read previous articles where I’ve mentioned Kate, I’ve explained that I believe Kate to be a stunt or PR girlfriend. Many celebrities use PR or publicity stunt girlfriends as a way of garnering publicity, a way of confirming their ‘hetrosexualty’ in the public eye or as a way of promoting a product (album, single or movie/tv show.)

Public relationships by celebrities are common and meeting and falling in love while on set is a common theme around movie productions. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship that helps to promote the movie by placing two of the stars together. A big example of this was Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart for the ‘Twilight’ movies. Rob and Kristen were together through most of the movies as a couple and then just before the final movie there were multiple stories of Kristen cheating on Rob with a director of another project.

It’s a tried and tested method and is common practice in the entertainment world to help get press for the project and to help stars in the public eye get promotion by being linked through a relationship. Another example of this was during ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ promo Harry Styles was linked with actress and director Olivia Wilde. This ‘relationship’ lasted two years and almost as soon as the movie was released the relationship ended, proving to fans once more that Harry had been yet again set up as a womanising homewrecker, especially in light of Olivia having two children that she often abandoned to attend Harry’s concerts.

It’s an insanely common theme among movie studios and music labels to pair a couple together for mutually beneficial promotion; see Harry Styles and Taylor Swift as another example. Harry and Taylor allegedly dated for 3 months in 2012 but both had reason for their relationship. One Direction were trying to break into the United States and Taylor was attempting to move from Country to a more pop music genre. The relationship is still talked about to this day and fans of Taylor and Harry who believe that it was a real relationship insist that multiple songs each have written relate to this when in fact it was a clear publicity stunt for mutual PR and is in fact taught in marketing classes at university level as a an example of a successful PR stunt.

Another stunt coupling that has come up in recent years was the coupling of Shawn Mendes and Dr Jocelyne Miranda who at 51 was over 26 years older than Shawn who was just 25 when they were linked together. Not only was the age difference a big red flag but the fact that Shawn was linked at all with this lady after he posted a picture of him wrapped in a pride flag on his instagram. Many fans took this as Shawn coming out, but within days of this instagram post his tour was cancelled and he was linked with the good doctor here for months.

Shawn has since talked about his sexuality on stage and has told fans that he is like any young man, figuring things out as he goes. He also stated that he struggles to define his sexuality. He was slated as a queer-bater by many fans and effectively it seems, forced back into the closet by his management team and music label. It shouldn't matter who someone sleeps with, but in the music and entertainment worlds, it seems to have a career you have to be willing to be closeted over and over as Labels own your public image and if they don't want you out then you cannot be out.

Many fans of Liam, of One Direction and in fact of any subset of pop culture often believe that famous singers and actors cannot be forced into the closet and while the world is becoming more accepting of queer actors and musicians this hasn't always been the case. In fact, two of Liam Payne's very good friends were in a closeted relationship for 18!!! Years. Julian Moris of Pretty Little Liars and Landon Ross are well known to fans of Liam as two of his very close friends but when Landon posts an image on Instagram (to be shown below) telling Julian and Liam to get back in the closet- this shows that they knew about Liam and how he was closeted just like they were.

Further Liam did a lot to support charities in his life and a lot of times his support for LGBTQIA+ charities was overlooked. He also supported the Trussel trust during lockdown and supported stand up to cancer and so many more charities, so while he was closeted he supported Pride, GLAAD, Rainbow Railroad (Landon and Julian hosted charity), and not to mention the Choose Love shirt that he designed to raise money for refugee funding. Liam was a kind and generous spirit and deserves to be remembered as this and not what the media are currently portraying him as.

Going back to Kate Cassidy, Liam's last stunt girlfriend, many fans of Liam’s were troubled to say the least by her clear disregard for his health, his wellbeing and his sobriety. I can’t state how many times I myself was enraged seeing them in bars, clubs and with her friends. They were always drinking and as Liam was battling his sobriety having him with someone who publicly didn’t give damn was harrowing and devastating.

Further to this it has come out that Liam was allegedly bankrolling Kate to the tune of $35,000 a month in expenses to be with him which equates to £29,000 per month. She was paid 10K but spent up to 25K more per month on his card to fund her lifestyle. All of this showed that Kate was no more than a paid employee who was only with Liam as a means to fund her expensive tastes and lifestyle. She also dragged him from country to country as in her own words she loved travelling, had a shopping habit to rival that of any socialite which was funded by Liam. In fact during one of Liam’s TikToks he talked about how he didn’t want or need things but had gone shopping and then showed Kate laden with bags showing that she’d yet again treated herself on his dime to yet more stuff.

Fan's of Liam found out after his death that Kate had left Argentina with a suitcase full of Liam’s clothes and personal belongings. She also gave her flight information and showed herself arriving back at the house that had been rented for them giving herself an alibi for when Liam was killed days later. Kate had never, ever done this before and then we had articles that stated she felt trapped in Argentina with Liam, so she left. Then another article came out stating that she gave Liam an ultimatum to leave with her (all while knowing he didn’t have a US visa and couldn’t follow her) and now she allegedly stated to friends that Roger and Liam were like children and she felt she had to look after them.

So which is it? Was Liam off the rails? And if he was, why didn’t Kate contact Geoff or someone else to help? Why would she leave Liam yet claim he was the love of her life after he died? Why would she tell friends she felt like he was a danger to himself yet not share those concerns with family? Why did she leave him with no clothes? And why on earth was Liam being made to pay her $35000 per month?

It’s common knowledge that stunt girlfriends have to be paid, but to make the artist themself pay for the stunt, especially one that is causing them to be isolated from family, exposing them to substances that they were trying hard to remain clean from is not only morally corrupt, but horrifying.

Furthermore, to abuse someone to the extent that they call it out on Snapchat shows the depth of Liam’s despair and his desperation to get out of the situation he was forced into. Only a few people listened and heard him even though he was screaming for help. In fact in one video where Liam says it’s a stunt three times he also says send help. In another he takes fans via Snapchat on a tour of their house showing not one but two closets and stated that they keep people in there, and further shows little Liam in Kate’s closet.

Liam said himself that he was being forced to do things by the stunt girlfriend which feels especially cruel. Charging someone to keep them in a cage is horrific and sickening.

Why did Kate not go in the family cars to the funeral if her story about Liam wanting to marry her was true? Why did she get no interaction from Liam's family, friends, former bandmates? Why was his funeral covered by paps? Why wasn't she invited to the private burial and wake? And why on earth did she show up with someone who had a picture of himself with someone else, claiming it to be Liam when it wasn't on his instagram? Why use a funeral to launch Damien Hurley? What was that about? Is he Kate's next 'PR' boyfriend?

The music industry is commonly seen as a place of glitz, glamour and Gucci, but the darker side of abuse, manipulation, coercion, closeting and silencing victims has to be exposed. Why is it okay for labels/ studios and management companies along with PR companies to take control of people’s lives and turn them into a product for mass consumption? Why are their images controlled to the extent that they have to pay for their own cages? Why is it okay to closet people in the name of entertainment and why has this decades old abuse been allowed to continue into the year 2025?

Isn’t it time to let the music and talent of actors, singers and entertainers speak for itself instead of forced images, forced closeting and forced contracts? Isn’t it time that people like Kate Cassidy make a name for themselves on their own back instead of on the back of someone who they contributed to the longstanding abuse of?

Why is a heterosexual image so important to the labels and studios? Why not just let people be and let them live their truth instead of making them miserable just to entertain others? People like Simon Cowell, Rob Stringer and Lucian Grange have a lot to answer for in the music and entertainment industries for these abuses of people. At the end of the day the truth will come out and it’ll be interesting to see who’s left standing when it does, but to Kate Cassidy: we aren’t buying the grieving widow act and it’s time to let it go and move on. You are nothing more than a leech who sucked Liam dry financially and played a massive role in his mental health problems and I hope that karma is coming for you.

To Liam’s label, management teams, Roger Nores, Simon Cowell, Sony and anyone else who abused Liam during his life I hope karma comes to you all too. I hope that you are haunted and never know a moment’s peace because you all are responsible for Liam’s suffering over the years. As much as Kate was complicit in his abuse, most of the blame lies with Sony, Universal, Simon Cowell, Modest Management and so many others because you saw a talented young man and instead of helping him when he needed it most, you all ignored the warnings, the cost on Liam and you made it worse.

Fan’s of Liam know who he was and so do his family and friends. They saw behind the curtain of Liam’s life and all stated how kind, generous and giving he was and we, as fans, have to keep fighting. The case might not give us the closure we need, but they can be damn sure that we won’t be buying the merry widow and the drug fueled narratives. Try again.

BTC

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