Former One Direction singer Liam Payne’s parents, Karen and Geoff, couldn’t have been prouder when he shot into the spotlight – but it also came with immense sadness

Liam’s parents laid their beloved son to rest this week – but it wasn’t the first time they’ve had to say a heartbroken goodbye.

The late One Direction singer died, aged 31, while on holiday in Argentina last month. His devastated family and friends, including the mother of his seven-year-old son Bear Cheryl Tweedy, gathered for a private funeral ceremony in Amersham on Tuesday.

The beautiful service commemorated Liam’s life and his role as a son, brother and father. His grief-stricken parents, Karen and Geoff Payne, were seen leaving the church as they consoled music mogul Simon Cowell, with the trio sharing an emotional moment together.

Liam’s parents shared an emotional moment with Simon outside the church ( Image: WireImage)

Following the funeral, a friend of the family told Mail Online: “Geoff is a lovely, lovely man. He struggled with Liam becoming famous. It was Simon who gave Liam so much, but also the one who took him away as such a young man, so it must have been difficult for Geoff.”

Liam shot to fame on The X Factor, aged 16, and signed to Simon’s music label SyCo – then ultimately, never came home again. When he jetted off around the world on tours, his parents shared how difficult it was to see him go. Geoff said that he mourned missing “rites of passage” with his teenage son, like buying him his first beer.

On 1D’s 2013 film, This Is Us, he opened up: “I don’t think we get to see him enough. There’s a lot said about the mum’s spirit and feeling. But dads do feel it as well, especially at 17, you’d like to have that son around you. All I had to offer him was to take him drinking and playing snooker.

“I didn’t really have an awful lot to offer him, but that’s part of your establishment as a young man, and that time went. I’ve missed it. I’ve missed it. He’s the only fella in the family, he’s gone.”

His father Geoff shared how Liam was ‘gone’ after he joined 1D

In the documentary, mum Karen, a nurse, appeared with a lifesize cardboard cut-out of her son. She said: “If I have this, I can still see him every day.” She sobbed: “He left home my little boy and became the boy in a magazine. When I see him on stage, I absolutely burst with pride but we do miss him so much.”

Reflecting how hard it was to let him go, Karen said: “I shed tears just looking at him. They become someone in a newspaper or a magazine to you. I always believed Liam would make it, but never this big. Never in my wildest dreams. He goes away for so long.”

Following Liam’s tragic death, his family released an emotional statement: “We are heartbroken. Liam will forever live in our hearts and we’ll remember him for his kind, funny and brave soul. We are supporting each other the best we can as a family and ask for privacy and space at this awful time.”