Directioners have been hit with tragedy following the shocking announcement that Liam Payne has sadly died, aged 31. The former One Direction member was found dead outside a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Wednesday night (October 16), after allegedly “falling” from his third-floor hotel balcony.
While his death is still being investigated, the singer had allegedly been “acting erratic” at the hotel, reportedly smashing his laptop. He was described by hotel staff as possibly being “under the effects of drugs and alcohol” and had to be “carried back to his room” following his “aggressive” behavior.
Liam Payne’s music journey began as part of the iconic British boyband One Direction and continued with a successful solo career in 2017. But despite his fame and success, it’s no secret that Liam as been embroiled in controversy ever since he left the group. The star opened up about mental health struggles, as well as drug and alcohol addiction, while also facing abuse and harassment allegations from exes and fans alike.
Below, we break down the many personal battles and scandals Liam Payne faced prior to his untimely death.
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One Direction is one of the biggest bands in the world, having sold more than 70 million records worldwide. But with success comes its downfalls, and that level of fame was tough for Liam Payne at times.
The popular star opened up to The Telegraph [via Independent] about experiencing burnout and “cabin fever” whilst in the band:
“It sent me a bit AWOL at one point, if I’m honest. I can remember when there were 10,000 people outside our hotel. We couldn’t go anywhere. It was just gig to hotel, gig to hotel. And you couldn’t sleep, because they’d still be outside.”
Liam also admitted that he “really hated” his life during the height of 1D’s fame, as he recalled a time when a photographer pushed his mom down in 2012: “I cried my eyes out. I thought, ‘I can’t do this,’ and really hated my life.”
Liam got candid about mental health struggles and discussed his battle with suicidal thoughts back in 2019.
Talking to former SAS soldier Ant Middleton about life in the public eye, Liam said that he was “lucky to be here still” and that “loneliness” got the best of him at times: “For some certain circumstances I’m quite lucky to be here still…There are times when that level of loneliness and people getting into you every day, it’s like, ‘When will this end?’ That’s almost nearly killed me a couple of times,” he said.
The interviewer asked if Liam ever wanted to act on it — and the singer replied: “Yeah, when I’ve been in a bad place. It’s one hundred per cent, you know. There’s no point denying it — it’s definitely been on the menu a couple of times in my life.”
Liam said that he had “really great people” around him which helped him get through it. His sister even spoke up for him, telling fans she was “worried” about him, whilst urging people to “be kind” amid the negativity he was facing.
It was in those dark times where Liam turned to drugs and alcohol to overcome his struggles. During a 2021 interview on The Diary of a CEO podcast, the artist said he would use “pills and booze” to cope with the pressure, in addition to his “moments of suicidal ideation.”
“There is some stuff that I’ve definitely never spoken about,” Liam said. “It was really, really, really severe. It was a problem.”
Discussing the band’s split, Liam admitted that he was thankful it happened and it “needed to stop” or it would “kill him.” The singer would allegedly turn to alcohol during the band’s peak and have “a party-for-one”, which would “carry on for many years” of his life.
In 2023, the Teardrops hitmaker announced that he had just completed 100 days in a rehab to get him back on track with his sobriety.
In a shocking 2022 interview with Logan Paul on his podcast, Impaulsive, Liam came clean about his thoughts on some fellow bandmates. Other than describing some of the One Direction boys as “rowdy,” Liam admitted that he and Louis Tomlinson “hated” one another and that he “dislikes Zayn.”
Liam also made the bombshell confession that he and a member (later revealed as Zayn by Liam’s ex-girlfriend in a TikTok video) “actually come to blows” backstage: “One member, in particular, threw me up a wall. So, I said to him, if you don’t remove those hands, there’s a high likelihood you’ll never use them again,” he revealed.
Following his bold statements, Liam faced scrutiny from his fans, which led him to “hit rock bottom” and check himself into rehab. “There is a point when you hit rock bottom and you realize you have got to do something different as whatever you are doing right now isn’t working for you. I was in bad shape up until that point,” he said on his YouTube channel.
Liam and Maya Henry went public with their romance in 2019, and got engaged in 2020. Their relationship was on-and-off, until they officially broke up in 2022. Two years later, Maya released her fiction novel, Look Forward, in 2024, which indirectly accuses Liam of physical and emotional abuse while they were together.
The novel follows a young girl who experiences a tumultuous relationship with her pop star boyfriend. “What I went through in real life is very similar to what Mallory went through in the book,” Maya told People Magazine in May 2024, subtly alluding to her relationship with Liam Payne.
The accusations in her book included him chasing her around their house with an axe, smashing walls and glass, forcing her to get an abortion, sending di*k pics to her family, and cheating on her while on drugs.
The “pop star character” in her novel would also threaten to jump off the balcony, claiming he was going to kill himself.
Less than two weeks before his untimely death, Liam’s name started to hit headlines. His ex-fiance Maya Heny shared a TikTok revealing that it was Zayn Malik who pushed Liam during their alleged “argument” back in the day.
Following backlash from fans, Maya then shared another TikTok claiming Liam still “blows up” her phone, despite the couple splitting in 2022. In the shocking clip, she accused him of using “different numbers” and iCloud accounts when “he gets his phone taken away from him” to contact her and her mom. Maya also went on to disclose that Liam would “prey on fans” by messaging them on Snapchat and Instagram, when they were together.
After Maya’s revelations hit social media, fans decided to come forth with their own personal stories about Liam. Multiple girls accused the Strip That Down singer of manipulating them to send inappropriate photos and videos.
One fan said Liam would message her on Instagram “asking [me] for explicit videos, explicit photos,” for two years, even while he was “in relationships.” While another girl claims she was “preyed on” by Liam at the age of 19.
Following his ex-fiancé’s disturbing claims and the worrying accusations made by fans, social media erupted with old videos and moments that suggested Liam was “always the problem.”
Concerning clips went viral on X that showed him being awkward at Niall Horan’s concert in Argentina, and acting strange with fans outside the show.
Just a couple of days before his death, news hit headlines that Maya Henry had issued a cease and desist notice to Liam, accusing him of constantly contacting her and her friends. According to People Magazine, Liam “was extremely overwhelmed by all of the legal issues.”
We’re truly heartbroken by this. Rest in Peace, Liam.
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