One Direction’s Break Up Made Liam Payne’s Problems Worse According to Source

One Direction lost a beloved friend after Liam Payne died by falling off of a balcony. Payne was already going through a turbulent period while a part of One Direction. But this source claimed leaving the band only made things worse.

An insider believed Liam Payne’s problems came from getting famous too young

Some very young famous stars have a more difficult time adjusting to early celebrity than others. An unnamed friend of Payne’s figured his childhood fame played a part in his death. Payne was 14 years old when he first auditioned for X Factor. Although he didn’t win the first time, he’d return two years later at the suggestions of one of the show’s judges.

This time, he was paired with another group of aspiring singers that would later form the band One Direction. Payne’s career took off perhaps a bit too quickly afterward. One Direction was created on July, 2010. A year and a few months later, on November, 2011, they released their debut record Up All Night and were immediately catapulted into mega-stardom. A friend of Payne’s described what the singer was like behind the scenes while still on the cusp of fame.

“He was only 16 when it really took off, and I remember being with him for an interview with Heat magazine,” the source said according to Bucks Free Press. “There were only 16 to 20 fans on Shaftsbury Avenue waiting for them to come, but the boys were riding their BMXs in the car park.”

“They were kids, and they literally took off. I think the problem was that they had fame at such a young age. They weren’t like the Beatles, but the noise around them was similar to that of the 2010s,” the source continued.

They also felt One Direction’s split only worsened Payne’s already strong drug addiction. It didn’t help that Styles’ solo career seemed to surpass even his One Direction fame. Meanwhile, the other members were still having a difficult time achieving similar success on their own.

“It was a lot to digest and when the band stopped [in 2016], apart from Harry Styles who has gone into the stratosphere of fame, the others haven’t hit it off. Your group has disbanded and you all take £30million…that can send you anywhere,” the source said.

In the end, the insider believed Payne succumbed to demons he’d been battling for a long time. However, the i, at his core, they also confided the late singer couldn’t have been a more pleasant person to be around.

“He was lovely and delightful. He wasn’t nasty, viscous or arrogant – he was quite shy. “Look at the house he bought [in Chalfont St Giles] – it’s private and not overly flash, but I honestly think a lot of people will be in the firing line for this sadly,” he said.

Liam Payne had a hard time adjusting to post-One Direction fame

Adjusting to solo stardom was difficult after One Direction split up. Payne discovered the hard way that fame was different as an adult than it was when he was a kid and a part of a group.

Back in Payne’s boy band days, the singer had guidance, which was sorely missing when he went solo. Mostly because he realized now he was the one who was supposed to guide others.

“My life’s been so controlled to a point, day sheets, security guards, you know, anything. And it’s all everybody else is dictating, puppet master over the top of your life. Then you just get to a point where it’s like, you have to take some control by yourself,” he once said on Steve Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast.

“And until I started to do that with my life, then I was living for everybody else. And I’m a complete people-pleaser anyway. So it was like nothing in my life was about serving myself, which then that just led me in a bad place and finding enjoyment from other stuff that I don’t need, he added.

What made things even more confusing was that Payne was still considerably younger than the people he was supposedly in charge of.

“It’s like what I found was I didn’t know I was the boss until like a few months ago. I still don’t even feel like I am now. Like I’m such a child. And everyone I work with is like older than me and wiser than me,” he said. “And I’m like, what the hell am I doing here with these people? So it’s like, you know, when we were 17, I thought the security guard was like in charge of me. Like I was like, oh, can we leave the room? No. Okay, then not to worry. I’ll just stay here.

To further illustrate his point, Payne confided that security guards used to instruct him when he could leave his hotel rooms. But when he became a solo, older artist, he found himself having to make those kinds of decisions himself. Which, ironically, left him feeling more trapped in hotel rooms.

“So I’m like in the room, like, what, are we allowed to leave? And then eventually that becomes like an angry person. And I was, because there were points where it was toxic and it was difficult,” he said.

An alleged hotel guest described disturbing encounter with Liam Payne moments before his death

Certain details regarding Payne’s death are still unclear. What fans do know is that the young artist died after falling off of a balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time, and was reportedly destroying his hotel room before the accident happened. One of the alleged witnesses who both saw and spoke to Payne while he was still alive gave insight into his last moments.

The woman, who went by Rebecca, was staying in the same hotel Payne was when she and her friends ran into him. Right from the beginning, the witness found her interaction with Payne a bit peculiar.

“I came into the hotel, and he was waiting by the elevator, and it was so clear he wanted someone to recognize him,” Rebecca told Daily Mail. “There was something a bit desperate about him.”

Payne then allegedly flirted with the group while reminding them he was who he said he was.

“When the lift came, he suddenly said to us without any prompting, ‘Yes, I’m Liam!’ really drawing it out, and then said, ‘All right, come on, you lot, get in the elevator with me. I love a cuddle,’” Rebecca said.

According to Rebecca, some of her friends decided to go with Payne back to his suite, while she opted to stay behind. During their conversation, Rebecca saw Payne pretending to choke another girl who she theorized was with the singer. Rebecca was able to shrug off her gesture, whereas some of her friends weren’t too sure about what they’d seen.

“Only lightly, but the others thought it was really disturbing,” she said.

Rebecca’s purported evening with Payne didn’t stop there. Later that day, Payne would find his way to Rebecca and her friends again, bringing a laptop with him. Rebecca figured Payne received an e-mail he didn’t like, which threw the former One Direction member into a rage. When she tried to reach out to him, Payne rebuked her help.

“I went over, asked, ‘Are you OK?’ But he just kind of grunted. Then he said, ‘I used to be in a boy band. That’s why I’m so f***** up,’” she recalled.