Six months after Liam Payne’s sudden and tragic death, his sister Ruth Gibbins has posted an emotional tribute on Instagram to express her ongoing grief.
She began her message with: “6 months, half a year without you?!” and went on to describe the overwhelming sense of loss that still consumes her. “My head is still screaming for you,” she wrote, explaining that every morning feels like “plunged underwater, gasping for air that never comes to relieve me.” She admitted that “living without you is impossible, so for now, I exist,” adding that while she’s trying to smile and laugh when expected, “mate, it’s exhausting when all I want to do is speak to you.”
Ruth also mentioned feeling Liam’s presence in her everyday life, saying she hears him “laughing at me walking around” and likening it to the movie Ghost. “You’re always coming through in different ways to put me back on the right path,” she added.
Liam Payne passed away on October 16, 2024, at the age of 31, after falling from a third-story hotel balcony in Buenos Aires. Toxicology tests later confirmed the presence of multiple substances and a dangerously high blood-alcohol level at the time of his death.
Following the tragedy, many of Payne’s loved ones — including his former One Direction bandmates — shared tributes. Ruth’s original message from October 19 included the lines: “My brain is struggling to catch up with what’s happening, and I don’t understand where you’ve gone … I don’t feel this world was good enough or kind enough to you… You just wanted to be loved and to make people happy with your music.”
In her new post, six months later, Ruth reflected on how difficult it still is to accept his absence. “I can’t process what’s happened and the finality of it,” she wrote. “You know I will never stop doing all I can for you. I miss you loudly, quietly and in all the moments inbetween. Love you so much more than these words or my tears are capable of expressing but I know you know this. For now I’ll meet you in my dreams.”
