Liam Payne’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy 'ridiculed' over passport photo - Canada News Beep

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Influencer left ’embarrassed’ after TSA agents grilled her in Fort Lauderdale

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Published May 19, 2026 • Last updated 7 hours ago • 3 minute read

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Kate Cassidy attends the “THIS IS CRAZY!” play to benefit the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) at Symphony Space on Oct. 6, 2025 in New York City. Photo by Bryan Bedder /Getty Images for NAMIArticle content

Kate Cassidy was left in tears after security agents at a Florida airport cast doubt on her passport photo.

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“I just got genuinely ridiculed at the Fort Lauderdale airport,” Cassidy, 27, said in a self-shot video shared with her 1.8 million TikTok followers.

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“So I’m at the security line, and I gave the guy my passport. And they obviously do a photo of you, and if it matches your passport, you get the green light, and if it doesn’t match your passport, you get the red light. And I got the red light because my photo, I guess, didn’t match my appearance,” she continued holding up her passport, which showed she had blonde hair in her picture.

“He calls over a woman and looks at my passport, looks at me … and this woman, literally, keeps going on about how, ‘This isn’t (me). You’re giving me somebody’s else’s passport,’” Cassidy said fighting back tears.

“She goes, ‘New nose, new lips, something to your eyes, new hair,’” the influencer continued. “She looks at my ID, she looks at my passport, she looks at me. She goes, ‘One, two, three. Those are three different people.’”

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As her voice began to crack, Cassidy said she was “so f***ing embarrassed.”

The agent proceeded to call three of her colleagues over to look at her passport and one asked if she could show a work ID.

“I was like, ‘I can pull up my Instagram. I don’t know what to do,’” she said exasperatedly. “Keep in mind everyone in line behind is listening to this. I understand they’re doing their job. At the same time. I think there’s way better ways to handle things and word things,” Cassidy said ending her message.

What people said about Cassidy’s post

Cassidy’s post, which she captioned, “There are other ways to speak to people. This was so embarrassing. I’m just trying to fly home to see my sister graduate college,” generated hundreds of comments, many of which sided with the TSA agents.

“The woman is correct. She’s just doing her job. The photo doesn’t match,” one person commented, while another added, “I mean this in the best way, its time to update the picture on the passport. You’re gorgeous in both but there’s a lot of differences and if I didn’t know better it does look like a different person. I’m not saying how they treated you was okay, but I can see why they asked for additional IDs … you really have changed a bit since that photo.”

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Kate Cassidy was left in tears after TSA agents ‘ridiculed’ her passport at the Fort Lauderdale airport. Photo by Kate Cassidy /TikTok

“This is not ridiculed,” a third person observed, “this is someone doing their job.”

“They should’ve been more polite about it but in the heat of the moment they were likely more concerned with the safety and security of their airport and keeping their jobs at a time when things are so unpredictable. They likely were not thinking of your feelings,” a fourth person noted.

Cassidy ready to date again

Cassidy’s post comes after she revealed that she is ready to date again after the death of her boyfriend Liam Payne in 2024.

Last month, the model and content creator posted a social media video informing her fans she was ready to open her heart again 18 months after Payne fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Argentina.

“I think that love after loss is a big chapter within your grief journey and I don’t know how that’s gonna feel,” she said in a TikTok video. “But what I do know is that I loved being in love. I want to have kids one day. I want to have a family, and I know Liam would want that for me, and if the roles were reversed I would want him to be happy and fall in love again.”

Liam Payne and Kate Cassidy Photo by Getty Images

Cassidy said that she’ll “always love” the late One Direction singer.

“That will never change, no matter who I meet and who comes into my life,” she said. “I’m going to think about Liam on my wedding day. I’m going to think about him every day for the rest of my life, and that goes without saying.”

mdaniell@postmedia.com