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Simon Cowell Reveals He Visited With Liam Payne Last Year: ‘Just to Sit and Talk’
Shelby Stivale
October 18, 2024 at 10:51 PM
Simon Cowell recalled a special moment with Liam Payne that occurred a year before the former One Direction member’s death.
“You came to see me last year. Not for a meeting. Just to sit and talk. And we reminisced about all the fun times we had together. And how proud you were to be a dad,” Cowell, 65, wrote in his Instagram tribute on Friday, October 18. “After you left, I was reminded that you were still the sweet, kind boy I met all those years ago.”
Us Weekly confirmed on Wednesday, October 16, that Payne died at age 31 in Argentina following a fall from a third-floor hotel balcony. A preliminary autopsy revealed that he died from “internal and external” hemorrhages.
Continuing his statement, Cowell revealed that he has met Payne’s 7-year-old son, Bear, whom the late singer shared with ex-girlfriend Cheryl Cole.
‘The X Factor UK’ Honors ‘Immensely Talented’ Liam Payne After His Death at Age 31: ‘Heartbroken’
“He has your smile and that twinkle in his eyes you have,” Cowell added. “He will be so proud of everything you achieved. And how you achieved it.”
Cowell put Payne together with Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik to form One Direction during The X Factor UK season 7 in 2010. Cowell also remembered the band in his tribute.
“I always thought of the 5 of you in the band as brothers. And reading their messages today I believe you were,” he wrote. “And now Liam, I can see the effect you had on so many people. Because you left us too soon.”
Payne first auditioned for the singing competition show in 2008, and Cowell recalled turning him down.
Liam Payne Through the Years: Revisiting the One Direction Alum’s Life in Photos
“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,” the music producer wrote. “A lot of people would have given up. You didn’t. You came back and within months the whole world knew Liam.”
Cowell continued: “And you never forgot the fans. I watched you spending so much time with people who had wanted to meet you. You really cared.”
Following the news of Payne’s sudden passing, Cowell postponed the Britain’s Got Talent auditions on Thursday, October 17.
“Due to the tragic passing of Liam Payne, BGT has decided to postpone today’s auditions in Blackpool,” ApplauseStore, the show’s ticketing service, shared in a statement via X. “We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”
How Much Prime Real Estate Could You Buy for $1 Million?
Published 3 years ago
on March 31, 2022
By Marcus Lu
▼ Use This Visualization
The Briefing
- Housing affordability can vary significantly from city to city
- $1 million USD can buy over 6 times more space in Dubai than in Hong Kong
How Much Real Estate Could You Buy for $1 Million?
“There are three things that matter in property: location, location, location”
Those are words from Harold Samuel, a British real-estate mogul from the 1900s. Broadly speaking, it’s a quote that still holds true—property values in the world’s best cities have always been worth a pretty penny.
The scarcity of real estate is driven by trends such as urbanization, which is the migration of people into cities. While the first examples of cities were built thousands of years ago, it was only recently that the majority of the population began to live in them. In fact, the urban population just overtook the rural population for the first time in 2007.
Of course, certain cities simply hold more appeal for wealthy people, and as a result, competition in the prime real estate market can be fierce.
To learn more about the sky-high cost of prime property in cities, this infographic visualizes data from Knight Frank’s Prime International Residential Index (PIRI 100).
What’s a Million Dollars Good For?
The following table lists the number of square feet that you could buy with one million dollars in various cities. We’ve included more cities on this list than in the graphic to create a more comprehensive comparison.
| City | Country | Square feet of prime property for $1 million (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| Monaco |  Monaco | 157 |
| Hong Kong |  China | 229 |
| London |  United Kingdom | 329 |
| New York |  United States | 358 |
| Singapore |  Singapore | 381 |
| Geneva |  Switzerland | 399 |
| Sydney |  Australia | 446 |
| Shanghai | China | 452 |
| Los Angeles | United States | 454 |
| Paris |  France | 455 |
| Beijing | China | 601 |
| Tokyo |  Japan | 692 |
| Berlin |  Germany | 786 |
| Miami | United States | 833 |
| Melbourne | Australia | 907 |
| Madrid |  Spain | 1,136 |
| Mumbai |  India | 1,164 |
| Dubai |  UAE | 1,469 |
| Cape Town |  South Africa | 2,363 |
| São Paulo |  Brazil | 2,759 |
Monaco, the most expensive city on this list, is incredibly land-constrained with an area of just 0.78 square miles. For context, New York’s Central Park is 1.31 square miles in size.
In second place is Hong Kong, which has become notorious for its difficult real estate market. Just 7% of the city is zoned for residential use, which pushes many of its citizens into sub-100 square feet micro apartments. These housing units offer grim living standards and are often referred to as “coffin homes”.
On the other side of the spectrum, Hong Kong recently set the record for the most expensive home in Asia. A 3,378 square foot penthouse sold for $59 million in 2021, translating to $17,500 per square foot.
What is Prime Real Estate?
You may be wondering what prime real estate is.
Knight Frank defines it as “the most desirable and expensive property in the area, generally defined as the top 5% of the market by value.” This suggests that the prices visualized above are on the upper end of the scale, and that more attainable homes are available.
» If you’re interested in urbanization, consider this infographic which ranks the 20 largest cities in the world.
