One Direction star Zayn Malik's heart-breaking gesture to Liam Payne ahead of funeral

Zayn Malik made a heartbreaking gesture to honour his late bandmate, Liam Payne.

The much-loved singer left his legion of loyal fans bereft last month when he fell to his death from the third floor of his hotel suite in Argentina, aged 31.

After an agonising wait for his parents in South America, Liam's body will finally be laid to rest today in the Home Counties and Zayn has cancelled his tour dates so that he can pay his final respects to the star, who he said "supported me through some of the most difficult times in my life".

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Zayn decided to cancel his UK tour, which was due to start this week so that he can attend Liam's funeral along with One Direction stars, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles and Niall Horan.

The Dusk Till Dawn star told his fans last week that he was rescheduling two of his Edinburgh shows due to "unforeseen circumstances." He informed fans that his November 20 show has now been changed to December 8 and another show of his Stairway To The Sky tour on November 21, has been rescheduled to December 9. The A Whole New World singer had previously postponed the American leg of his tour following the devastating loss of his bandmate.

Liam and Zayn shot to unimaginable fame together in 2010 when they formed One Direction on the X Factor along with Harry, Niall and Louis.

Paying tribute to the dad-of-one following his tragic death, Zayn admitted he "never got to thank" the late star for supporting him through some of the "most difficult" times in his life. Taking to Instagram, he wrote: "Liam, I have found myself talking out loud to you, hoping you can hear me, I can't help but think selfishly that there was so many more conversations for us to have in our lives. I never got to thank you for supporting me through some of the most difficult times in my life.

"When I was missing home as a 17 yr old kid you would always be there with a positive outlook and reassuring smile and let me know you were my friend and that I was loved. Even though you were younger than me you were always more sensible than me, you were headstrong, opinionated, and gave no f***s about telling people when they were wrong.

"Even though we butted heads because of this a few times, I always secretly respected you for it. I was always happy to know, no matter what happened on stage we could always rely on you to know which way to steer the ship next. I lost a brother when you left us and can't explain to you what l'd give to just give you a hug one last time and say goodbye."

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