If you’ve been in the One Direction fandom long enough, then you remember the time when buying all the 1D merch you could find was necessary. And yes, that included life-size cardboard cutouts of Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik. C’mon, you know which ones we’re talking about. Even Miley Cyrus famously got in on it all when she posed with her little sister Noah‘s cutout of Harry. Never forget.

miley cyrus harry styles cardboard cutout
Twitter, @MileyCyrus

And there was someone else in the 1D fandom who truly cherished her life-size cutout: Karen Payne. As, as in Liam’s mom. See, if you remember the boys’ documentary, This Is Us, the world got an inside look at their lives outside the band and in a very key scene, Liam’s mom is seen actually buying the cutout of her son. And this is a baby Liam pic we’re talking about here, long hair, wearing a green hoodie vibes. You most likely can visualize it, right? Well, the scene just gets you right in the heart since Karen sheds some tears that are full of pride and a bit of sadness as having her then-teenage son become a huge pop star so quickly is a lot for any mom to deal with. 

“We miss him. He left home my little boy and became the boy in a magazine. If I have this I can still see him every day. When I see him on stage I absolutely burst with pride, but we do miss him so much,” Karen said.

liam payne parents
YouTube

OK, our tears are streaming again. And get ready for this: Liam recently admitted on his Instagram Live that his mom STILL has it.

“She actually does. Yep, she does have that cutout. It’s a sad day, what are you doing, mum?” Liam joked.

Our hearts, that is just too sweet. And now that Liam is a dad himself to his young son Bear, we can only imagine Karen is holding on to all these memories so she can share them with her grandson. As for Bear? Well, the world still hasn’t seen a full photo of the little lad since the 25-year-old “Strip That Down” singer and his ex-girlfriend Cheryl Cole have kept him out of the spotlight, but in that same IG Live, Liam gave everyone an adorable update.

“My son is really, really good. He’s starting to babble a lot now, so I think he’s going to be quite the talker when he gets around to it,” Liam shared.

Let’s hope he’ll be a singer too and he can start belting out some One Direction tunes. Adorable.

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