Inside Liam Payne's life of addiction struggles and mental health battle during rise to fame

Former One Direction singer Liam Payne struggled with mental health and drug addiction for years prior to his tragic death.

Payne, 31, was found dead after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, local officials said. Buenos Aires police said in a statement that Payne fell form the third floor of the Casa Sur Hotel in the trendy Palermo neighborhood of Argentina’s capital, and was confirmed dead on the spot, the Associated Press reported .

Pablo Policicchio, the spokesperson for the Security Ministry of Buenos Aires municipality, said in a statement to The Associated Press that Payne “had thrown himself from the balcony of his room.” He said police were dispatched to the hotel in response to an emergency call about an “aggressive man who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.” Arriving police said they heard a thud and found Payne’s body in the hotel courtyard , Policicchio said.

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The troubled pop star had been open in the past about his struggles with addiction, revealing that he had experienced "severe suicidal thoughts" and was heavily into drugs during his One Direction days.

"There is some stuff that I have definitely never, never spoken about. It was really, really, really severe. It was a problem,” he shared on the Diary of a CEO podcast back in 2021. "And it was only until I saw myself after that I was like, ‘Right, I need to fix myself.'”

He described seeing pictures of him on a boat when he was “all bloated out,” describing what he called his “pills-and-booze face. My face was just, like, 10 times more than it is now. I just didn’t like myself very much, and then I made a change.”

In a 2019 interview with Men's Health Australia Payne said he found fame difficult and often turned to alcohol to help himself cope.

"It's almost like putting the Disney costume on before you step up on stage and underneath the Disney costume I was pissed quite a lot of the time because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on," he said. "I mean, it was fun. We had an absolute blast, but there were certain parts of it where it just got a little bit toxic."

In 2023 Payne posted a video to YouTube where he r evealed that he had been 100 days sober after staying in a rehab facility.

"I just kind of feel like I've got more of a grip on life and everything that was getting away from me, I just feel like I've got more of a handle on it," Payne said in the video. "I just needed to take a little bit of time out for myself actually because I kind of became somebody who I didn't really recognize anymore. And I'm sure you guys didn't either. I was in bad shape up until that point and I was really happy to kind of put a stopper to life and work."

Argentine media reported that Payne was in Buenos Aires to attend the concert of his former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan.

Payne was one of five band members of One Direction, which formed in 2010 when they each auditioned for the British singing competition series “The X Factor.” After each singer failed to make it through the competition as solo acts, Simon Cowell and his fellow judges combined them into what would become one of the most successful boy bands.

The band became known for their pop sound and romantic hits like “What Makes You Beautiful.” They had six Top 10 hits on the Billboard charts by the time they disbanded in 2016. They had a loyal fan base, many of whom were teen girls, who became known as “Directioners.”