A close friend of Liam Payne has revealed to Sky News the final messages the singer sent her in the hours leading up to his death on Wednesday.

Jodie Richards, who taught the former One Direction star at her performing arts company Pink Productions in Wolverhampton, said she thought the news that he’d died after falling from a balcony in Buenos Aires was “fake” and she tried to call him on Wednesday night.

Liam, 31, had messaged Jodie on Monday to ask her what she was doing. She replied to say she was with her son, Jackson, at a gym, and Liam replied “nice”.

He later sent her a photo of himself sitting on his bed in his hotel room in the Argentinian capital, with his hand to his forehead. She replied: “Sorry just home x.”

Latest updates: New details of Payne’s death released

Jodie told Sky News: “I’m really close to Liam, we’ve been friends for years and he was away yesterday in Argentina and I think he just wanted to touch base and check I was okay, see how everyone was back at home.

“We speak near enough every day and have done for years. Obviously he’s always been there at times I’ve needed him even though he’s not local.”

On Wednesday, Liam messaged Jodie in the early hours of the morning UK time to ask if she was awake – she later replied that she was at 8.20am.

She asked if he was okay, he replied “yeah” and she told him she’d just got to work. He told her he was “chilling” in Argentina.

“He was looking forward to his day, he said he was having a chill, nothing seemed out of the ordinary”, the 41-year-old, from the West Midlands, said.

“He’s always somewhere more glamorous than we are so LA, Argentina, I have to look at the time difference to see where he is, he usually texts me and it’s the middle of our night.

“He seemed fine, he looked happy, he looked healthy – no reason for any kind of concern and then obviously I heard it on the news.”

‘Tell me this isn’t true’

Jodie said she “couldn’t believe” what was happening.

“I thought it was fake news, I tried to phone him. Obviously he wasn’t answering. I tried to text him, it wasn’t going to a ‘read’ message – normally it does quite quickly, then as I turned the telly on it was getting more and more apparent it wasn’t fake.”

Jodie texted Liam, saying: “Please tell me this isn’t true!”

“It’s a wicked waste of a life, he had a future ahead of him,” she said, adding that “family, friends, everyone loved him. It’s a real tragedy not only for us as friends and family but the whole world who know him as a celebrity and a pop singer.

“Obviously he’s got a very supportive mum and dad, his two sisters, I know he speaks very highly of Cheryl [Tweedy], he’s got a girlfriend… he’s got enough people to reach out to and he would have.

“He’s always got help if he needed it but as far as I’m concerned he was in a good place with everything going on in his personal life and his career as well, he had new things on the horizon on the telly and he seemed happy.”

Read more:
What we know about Liam Payne’s death
‘Heartbroken’ family pay tribute to singer

Jodie said she would remember him as a “cheeky chappy” who would “make everyone laugh”.

“I just want people to look at Liam, look at everything, the legacy he’s left through X Factor, all his charity work and just remember him for the absolute idol he is.”

:: Anyone feeling emotionally distressed can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.