Liam Payne's ex Sophia Smith announces engagement to boyfriend

Liam Payne's ex Sophia Smith has announced her engagement to her boyfriend James Bridgwood. 

The One Direction star and the influencer, 30, dated from 2013 after having been friends since their schooldays in Wolverhampton until October 2015. 

Sharing an update to Instagram on Friday, Sophia shared the happy news with a sweet black and white clip of the proposal. 

She captioned the update: 'Yes a million times over 25.12.24.'

The couple could be seen knelt on the floor surrounded by rose petals and a bottle of champagne to celebrate. 

Sophia and James are parents to their daughter Angelina who was born in April 2023. 

Liam and Sophia originally met when they were both in school, but didn’t date until 2013, splitting in October 2015.

He told The Sun On Sunday at the time: 'I’m absolutely devastated to have split with Sophia, but in order to do right by somebody, sometimes it’s better not to do what your heart wants, but to do what’s better for them.'

The split came as a shock to fans as just weeks before Liam admitted that the pair were talking about marriage.

In an interview with Attitude magazine, he said: 'We have talked about marriage, but 22 seems a bit young for us. Sophia needs to go off and do what she wants to do.

'I don’t want her to be one of those stay-at-home girlfriends who doesn’t really do much.'

Liam died at age 31 on October 16 after falling from a third-floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires. 

Since then, three people have been charged in connection with his death. 

In November, Argentine prosecutors charged the suspects with the crimes of 'abandonment of a person followed by death' and 'supplying and facilitating the use of narcotics.' 

The autopsy concluded that he died from multiple injuries and external bleeding after falling from his room's balcony on the third floor of the CasaSur hotel in the upscale neighbourhood of Palermo. 

The toxicological exams showed that there were 'traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescribed antidepressant' in his body prior to his passing.

The identities of the suspects charged in connection to his death have not been revealed. 

However, the prosecutors' office said that one of the people charged was is a hotel staffer who allegedly gave Payne cocaine during his stay between October 13 and 16. Another is a drug dealer.