Mary Bryne has opened up about her time on X Factor alongside One Direction.
She has reminisced about her close relationship with the boys especially the late Liam Payne.
Liam sadly passed away after falling from a third-storey balcony in a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The news has shocked the music community and fans of the band.
He became a global phenomenon when he auditioned for X Factor in 2010 and was put in the boyband One Direction with Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Harry Styles.
Irish woman Mary was also a contestant on that season of the show. She said she last spoke to him six years ago while they were appearing as guests on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show.
Speaking to PA, she said: “As a 50-year-old lady going into the X Factor, I found it tough, like the young kids found it tough work as well, and I remember getting to meet Liam at boot camp, and we just got talking one day, and a kind of friendship, a little bond, came between us, the older mammy and the boy.
“And it was lovely that went on into the house, and into the live shows and the whole lot, Liam was one of the guys who if anyone in the group felt a bit down, he was the one to give you the hug.
“He was the one to come over and assure you that everything was going to be OK, just keep going. And he got the rest of the lads doing the same thing.”
She went on to say at one point during the show, she was feeling “down” so the other contestants wrote her a card.
“On the top of the card they all signed it, but Liam said, ‘Mammy Mary, I’m here for you, you’ve got to keep going, we’ll do this together’. I mean, come on, I still have that card, that to me proved the heart that young lad had.”
She added that they last spoke six years ago, admitting: “I’m sorry now that I didn’t keep in contact with him, but life goes on and we all go our own ways, it’s sad.”
Rest in Peace Liam.
