IN the wake of Liam Payne’s untimely death on Wednesday, much has been said of his ‘rocky relationship’ with fellow bandmates and how he had tried to heal rifts before his passing.
The troubled ‘Story of My Life’ singer plunged 45ft to his death from a third-floor balcony in Buenos Aires on Wednesday leaving the world shocked and stunned.
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Liam and his fellow bandmates became one of the biggest boy bands in history.
The English-Irish pop boy band, comprising Liam, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and, Zayn Malik (until 2015) formed in London in 2010 following their stint on the seventh series of X Factor.
While the group came third the band was soon signed to Simon Cowell’s Syco label and enjoyed a stratospheric rise to fame.
Known as 1D, their first four albums debuted at No. 1 as the teen idols undertook four world tours, won more than 200 awards, sold more than 70 million records globally and amassed over three billion YouTube views until they split in 2016.
While Liam had been previously quoted as saying his bandmates were ‘there when I needed them most’, he had also famously fallen out with another bandmate Zayn.
The singer had alluded to his rift with him on Logan Paul’s “Impaulsive” podcast in 2022.
During the podcast, Liam said there were “many reasons” he disliked Zayn, but also: “Many reasons why I’ll always be on his side.”
Liam discussed his own upbringing, calling his parents “overly supportive” to the point it was “annoying at times” but compared it to Zayn, who he claimed had a “different upbringing in that sense”.
The late singer said: “You can always look at the man for where he is and say ‘oh yeah whatever that guy’s a d****’, but at the end of the day you have to understand what he’s been through to get to that point”.
He revealed on the podcast how he also felt misunderstood and said: “I’m so misunderstood, by myself more than anyone.”
The late star tragically added: “I don’t know what I’m doing or why I’m here. I can’t sit here and pick on him (Zayn) for whatever.”
He continued: “I don’t agree with any of his actions. I can’t commend some of the things that he’s done. I can’t be on his side for that.”
“Your only hope is that at some point in their life, the person on the other end of the phone wants to receive the help you’re willing to give them.”
Liam, who had appeared troubled in recent months, had flown to Argentina to support his former One Direction bandmate Niall.
He had taken his American girlfriend Kate Cassidy to The Show: Live on Tour gig at the Movistar Arena in Buenos Aires, before publicly declaring that he was thrilled to finally reunite with Niall.
Prior to the show he had taken to his social media to say: “Going to Argentina to see Nialler”.
He continued: “Niall Horan is playing down there and I think we might just go to say hello.”
“It’s been a while since me and Niall have spoken.”
“We’ve got a lot to talk about.
“And I would like to square up a couple of things up with the boy,” before adding there were no hard feelings: “No bad vibes or anything like that. But just … we need to talk.”
He then shared pictures on social media of the pair enjoying time together that evening, simply saying: “Reunited” in one snap and: “So happy I got to see Niall in concert,” in another.
While it was to tragically be his last public outing, an insider had recently revealed that Liam ‘was so proud’ of Niall and added “there was nothing but love between them”.
The source said: “When Liam attended Niall’s show earlier this month, he really wanted to just tell him he was proud of him, and it was genuine.”
The source also admitted that Niall ‘was so grateful’ that Liam had flown over to see him.
Another source was quoted as saying: “Their bond was unbreakable at the end, and their friendship ended on a good note, so to speak.”
In a tribute to his former bandmate, Zaynhas said the pair had ‘butted heads’, but thanked Liam for ‘helping him through his darkest times’.
Zayn, also 31, told how he’d ‘lost a brother’ and had always ‘respected’ Liam.
In his poignant tribute he said: “I never got to thank you for supporting me through some of the most difficult times in my life.”
“When I was missing home as a 17-year-old kid you would always be there with a positive outlook and reassuring smile and let me know you were my friend and that I was loved.”
“Even though you were younger than me you were always more sensible than me…you were headstrong, opinionated and gave no f**ks about telling people they were wrong.”
“Even though we butted heads because of this a few times, I always secretly respected you for it.”
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