Liam Payne horrified fans by standing on ledge of high-rise building in dangerous stunt 10 years ago
By Emily Crane,
11 hours ago
One Direction star Liam Payne once freaked out fans by dangerously posing on a 34-floor high building ledge — a decade before he tragically plunged to his death from a hotel balcony.
The haunting photo resurfaced after the 31-year-old fractured his skull and died instantly when he fell from his third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina late Wednesday.
The chilling balcony stunt horrified One Direction devotees so much at the time that Payne was forced to issue a groveling apology, saying “it was a stupid and irresponsible thing to do.”
Liam Payne posing on the ledge of a 34-floor high building. Twitter
The years-old photo showed Payne, then 20, balancing on the ledge of an apartment building in London in 2014.
The snap, taken the same night of bandmate Zayn Malik’s 21st birthday, was shared online by one of Payne’s friends.
It was quickly deleted, though, after sparking concern among One Direction fans.
“Can you stop giving us heart attacks? You’re not really Batman babe,” one tweeted at the time, while another wrote, “That photo of @Real_Liam_Payneon that balcony really gave me a mini heart attack … please don’t do that again!”
The heartthrob quickly released a statement addressing the concern – as he urged followers not to stage copycat photos.
“You may have seen a photo of me today taken on top of a building. I regret being there and having a photo taken,” Payne said at the time.
“It was a stupid and irresponsible thing to do. I am sorry, and do not endorse any fans trying to repeat this, as it is extremely dangerous.”
Liam Payne’s apartment building in London. FameFlynet.uk.com / SplashNews.com
Details of the balcony stunt resurfaced soon after news emerged of the British star’s shock death.
First responders had rushed to the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires late Wednesday after receiving an emergency call from the frantic manager about a guest who was “putting his life at risk.”
The manager, “Esteban,” claimed Payne was destroying his hotel room and was under the influence of “drugs and alcohol,” according to audio of the call.
“When he’s conscious, he’s breaking up the whole room. And, well, we need you to send someone, please,” the manager told the dispatcher.
Payne later fell from the third-floor balcony and landed in the hotel’s inner courtyard.
“Our role was to head there quickly, give medical attention, and try to resuscitate him, but his injuries were incompatible with life,” Buenos Aires emergency services chief, Alberto Crescenti, said.
“Based on what the team saw, there was apparently a cranial fracture and extremely serious injuries that led to his immediate death.”
He added: “The team could do absolutely nothing. There was no resuscitation because it was confirmed that he had died. The whole body had very serious injuries.”
The singer’s body has since been sent for an autopsy, officials said.
Suicide dishonors our body and the Lord who created us. God wants us to care for our bodies in the same way Christ cares for the church (Ephesians 5:29). Many New Testament saints and Jesus Himself were tortured and put to death, but they did not commit suicide. Instead, like Paul, they “fought the good fight” of faith until their death (2 Timothy 4:6-8).
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