Liam Payne's ex Sophia Smith engaged to boyfriend James Bridgwood

Liam Payne’s ex-girlfriend and former schoolmate Sophia Smith is off to new beginnings with her boyfriend-turned-fiancé James Bridgwood.

The influencer, 30, made her engagement announcement with a black-and-white video of the proposal posted on Instagram on Friday.

“Yes a million times over," she wrote in the caption with a heart and ring emoji, before indicating the proposal took place on Christmas.

By the look of the black-and-white video of the proposal, Bridgwood kept it intimate and private as the couple was sitting on the floor in their holiday pajamas, beside some petals of roses and a bottle of white wine when he took out the ring. 

Smith appeared stunned and smiled wide while Bridgwood put the ring on her finger. The couple’s one-year-old daughter, Angelina, was also wandering around the room during the proposal before she stopped to join in for a group hug.

Congratulations were in order as fans and friends, including two women from the One Direction inner circle, rejoiced over the big news.

“Aw Soph,” Lou Teasdale––former hair and makeup artist for One Direction––commented with a heart emoji.

Louis Tomlinson’s sister Lottie Tomlinson also congratulated the pair along with a string of crying and heart emojis.

Smith went Instagram exclusive with Bridgwood in June 2022 with an announcement that she was pregnant with their first child together in December 2022.

Prior to her relationship with Bridgwood, Smith dated Payne from 2013 to 2015. The two were initially childhood friends in Wolverhampton, England.

“I didn’t actually go out with her at the time [when we were younger],” Payne revealed in a September 2015 interview with Attitude.

 “I used to see her at school and we’d kind of chat. I asked her sister for her number. She was very shy and didn’t give much indication that she liked me, so I just assumed that she wasn’t interested, as well as thinking, she was way too hot for me anyway.”

Payne added that once they did start dating, they even “talked about marriage” at the time. The two eventually decided to focus on their individual careers and called it quits in October 2015.

The late pop star went on to date Cheryl Cole–– with whom he welcomed son Bear––before splitting shortly after and dating ex-fiancee Maya Henry. Liam was dating Kate Cassidy when he died at age 31 on October 16.