Rebecca Ferguson said she had attempted to contact her former X Factor co-star Liam Payne a week before his death because she had been “worried about him for a while”.

The singer-songwriter, who appeared in the final of The X Factor with One Direction in 2010, said she was “in denial, shocked and hurt” after Payne fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Ferguson said she had attempted to contact Payne “last Saturday” as she said she could see he was struggling.

“I sent a message to some of the fans and I said: ‘I’m really worried about Liam, how do I get in touch with him?’ and no-one knew how,” the 38-year-old said on a live X Space with One Direction fans.

“But I’ve been worried about him for a while because I could see that he was not in a good place, and I thought he might have been triggered by a lot of the stuff that has been in the news here lately as well.”

Ferguson said she joined the live X chat, titled Liam and Directioners, because “I wanted to feel that I was part of something” following the singer’s death aged 31.

“I’m so heartbroken for that little lad that I knew,” she said.

Discussing her time with Payne on The X Factor, she continued: “When we all lived together, and we toured together, we were like a family.

“So I just keep picturing that young boy, I just keep picturing how happy he was.

“I’m still in a bit of shock.”

Ferguson said she found it “disgusting” that there were pictures circulating online, allegedly from Payne’s hotel room.

But the singer said that it was “so lovely that he was so loved”.

It comes after Ferguson posted a statement on X, describing Payne as “young, innocent and unaffected by fame” when they met at London Euston train station and shared a taxi together to the X Factor studio.

Representatives for Payne have been contacted for comment.