One Direction member Liam Payne pleaded for privacy as he split with girlfriend Sophia Smith.

Mail Online has confirmed the split as the British tabloid talked to a source who said that Liam Payne is "incredibly sad."

"He really hopes that everybody will respect both his and Sophia's privacy and stop speculating," the source added, explaining that Liam Payne will continue to get busy with his career in the meantime.

Liam Payne and Sophia Smith's alleged split came on the heels of the announcement that One Direction canceled its Oct. 20 performance in Belfast because Liam was down with an illness. Harry Styles has been quoted as saying that what his bandmate has gone through "is not pretty."

Later, Liam Payne emerged to apologize to the fans of One Direction and went on to perform at Belfast which was rescheduled on Friday.

According to Daily Mirror, the split rumors were denied by Sophia Smith just a few days earlier on her Instagram account.

It said, "The account which has over 75,000 followers, captioned the shot: 'i love you more and more every day. #stop #the #rumours.'"

Rubbing salt on the wound was the recently published interview by Liam Payne with Attitude magazine where the One Direction member said that Sophia Smith is the one.

"We have talked about marriage, but 22 seems a bit young for us," he said in an interview with Attitude magazine. "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."

He continued, "Sophia has to live her own life. She can't just see me do what I do and follow me around. She has to be successful in her own right and do her things. And I know she will."

To date, Sophia Smith has yet to issue a statement on the alleged split with Liam Payne.