Friends and fans of Louis Tomlinson have been publicly sending the star heartfelt messages of love and sorrow following the tragic death of his mum this week. Now Louis has broken his silence to thanks people for the support.

Johannah Deakin died on 7th December following a brave battle with leukaemia, aged 42. Louis’ step-father Dan announced the sad news on Friday 9th December.

Since then stars such as Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and Louis’ One Direction bandmates Niall Horan and Liam Payne have been in touch, telling the 24-yar-old they were all thinking of him.

Zayn Malik also reached out, tweeting Louis with love and prayers.

Louis himself has been silent up until this afternoon when he took to Twitter to thank people for the support.

Tomlinson, who is performing on tonight’s' X Factor' in tribute to his mum, said, “All the support has been incredible! Let’s do this together tonight.”

- By Ellen Kerry