Liam Payne’s troubled life: ‘Booze and pills phase’

He was a member of one of the most adored boy bands of all time – but Liam Payne’s life had its share of controversies, including serious allegations from ex-girlfriends.

He earned fame and fortune as a member of One Direction but Liam Payne’s life was far from perfect.

In 2021 he discussed his battles with alcohol and drug addiction, as well as depression.

On the Diary of a CEO podcast presented by Steven Bartlett, Payne disclosed he had a “booze and pills phase” and partied for years.

The accompanying depression and suicidal ideation was “really, really severe,” Payne told Bartlett.

At the time of the podcast Payne had been sober for a month, he told Bartlett, but the Covid-19 lockdowns had been bad for his drinking.

“Alcohol. It was getting earlier and earlier, and easier and easier,” he said.

“There were no boundaries. If you’re on Zoom it’s quite easy to hide you’re tipsy at a time you shouldn’t be.”

PAYNE’S NET WORTH

Liam Payne attends the Hugo X Liam Payne Bodywear Campaign party in London, December 2019. Picture: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Hugo Boss

The website Celebrity Net Worth estimated Payne’s fortune to be US$70 million (A$105 million).

Unlike other boybands such as Take That and N’Sync, the members of One Direction did have a regular hand in songwriting, providing them with guaranteed future revenue. On the band’s third album Midnight Memories, Payne was credited as a songwriter on nine tracks and on Four, their next LP, he had credits on seven tracks.

He also had songwriting credits on three tracks on his only solo album, LP1.

Payne also had a number of lucrative commercial partnerships.

In 2019 he became the face of menswear label Hugo Boss, with a special collection named after him. In 2020 the collaboration deepened, with the singer announced as the face of Hugo Boss Fragrances.

DIFFICULT RELATIONSHIPS

Cheryl Cole and Liam Payne on the red carpet for the 2018 Brit Awards. Picture: EPA/NEIL HALL

Payne had a sting of relationships, including with model Naomi Campbell and the online influencer Kate Cassidy, whom he had been seeing at the time of his death.

He dated Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole between 2016 and 2018, although they first met when she was a judge on X Factor and he was a contestant. He was 14 at the time.

Their son Bear was born on March 22, 2017, but the pair reportedly had a fractious relationship. They confirmed their split in simultaneous social media posts in July 2018.

FORCED ABORTION AND STALKING CLAIMS

After Cole, Payne dated young Texan model Maya Henry.

The pair got engaged in August 2020 but Paybe called it off several months later, telling Steven Bartlett: “I’m more disappointed in myself that I keep on hurting people.”

Earlier this year, Henry released a novel in which the main character undergoes a painful abortion that her boyfriend insists she have, otherwise he would leave her.

Liam Payne and Maya Henry attend a film premiere in October 2021 in England. Picture: Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Disney

People magazine quoted Henry as saying that the novel was “inspired by true events” and she dealt with serious complications from the abortion with little support.

“If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have done it,” People quoted Henry as saying.

“But then also, if I were to have made a different decision, then I would’ve lost the person that I loved.”

In a TikTok released earlier this month, Henry also appeared to accuse Payne of stalking her, saying he had been using different phone numbers and iCloud accounts to attempt to reach her.

FIGHT WITH 1D BANDMATE

In 2022, Payne told Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast that he was involved in a physical altercation with one of his One Direction bandmates.

“There was one moment where there was an argument backstage and one member in particular threw me up a wall. I said to him ‘If you don’t remove those hands there’s a high likelihood you’ll never use them again’.

Earlier this month, Maya Henry claimed that Payne had told her that the fight was with Zayn Malik.

Liam Payne and Zayn Malik.

DRUNKEN AGGRESSION

A star from the age of 14, Payne was frequently hounded by paparazzi and occasionally lashed out.

In 2019, TMZ posted video of the singer involved in a confrontation with a bouncer at a bar in San Antonio, Texas.

“Bro, m don’t push me again, I will lay your ass out,” the noticeably alcohol-affected Payne can be heard saying to the bouncer

Originally published as Liam Payne’s troubled life: ‘Booze and pills phase’