Liam Payne apparently previously overdosed and had to be revived

New details are emerging about the extent of late One Direction singer Liam Payne’s past drug use, as his posthumous single release is postponed.

Liam Payne is said to have overdosed in the past and had to be resuscitated at least once it’s been revealed, as the late One Direction singer’s posthumous song release is postponed.

The tragic star – who fell to his death off a hotel balcony in Argentina on October 16 while apparently under the influence of drugs – had previously overdosed at least twice, Page Six reports, citing an unnamed “senior music insider”.

According to the publication the “close source” has known the singer since his boy band days and told how Payne’s friends and former colleagues were “shocked” when his new manager signed him up for Netflix talent show Building the Band because he was just out of rehab.

“His manager pushed him to do the show and there were a lot of worried texts exchanged between us,” the source said, Page Six reports.

“We were shocked, there was no way he was in any shape to do this.”

Former One Direction singer Liam Payne was just 31 when he fell to his death.

“Liam had, in the last few months, become very isolated by a new group of people away from [those] who cared for him and who’d been trying to help him for a long time.”

It comes as Grammy-winning producer and singer Sam Pounds said that the release of a duet with Payne called Do No Wrong will be postponed out of respect for his family.

Pounds last week posted a video filmed by Payne’s sister Ruth of the pair working on the R&B-style track and announcing it’s release on Friday (November 1).

In a follow-up post on X on Wednesday, Pounds announced that the song will not be released yet out of respect for Payne’s family.

“Today I’m deciding to hold Do No Wrong and leave those liberties up to all family members,” Pounds wrote. “I want all proceeds [to] go to a charity of their choosing (or however they desire).

Today I’m deciding to hold “ Do No Wrong” and leave those liberties up to all family members. I want all proceeds go to a charity of their choosing (or however they desire). Even though we all love the song it’s not the time yet. We are all still mourning the passing of Liam and…

— Sam Pounds (@iamsampounds) October 29, 2024

Meanwhile, Argentinian media say Payne’s fatal fall from a balcony in Buenos Aires was captured on CCTV.

Paula Varela, an Argentinian broadcast journalist, said the footage showed the singer had fallen after he “fainted” on the third-floor balcony, but authorities had chosen not to share the footage with the public.

Speaking on Socios del Espectaculo, a show broadcast on Buenos Aires-based TV station Canal 13, Ms Varela also reported that a night worker at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel who had “a good relationship” with Payne was the focus of an ongoing investigation into who supplied the singer with the drugs suspected of contributing to his death on October 16.

“There is footage that is not being released to the media with the balcony scene where you see that Liam faints and tragically because of where he is, falls from that balcony. If he had been beside his bed he would have fallen on his bed,” Ms Varela said.

“It’s not that he jumped deliberately. This footage is in the official case files.”

Ms Varela continued: “There’s a lad who’s being investigated, he was working nights at the hotel. He’s 20 and had struck up an excellent relationship with Liam. He’s from Lomas de Zamora on the outskirts of Buenos Aires but we’re not going to say his name.

“He disobeyed an order from the hotel management. What was the order he disobeyed? It was not to take anything into Liam’s room.”

“Because of the good relationship he had with Liam he requested a car through one of these taxi apps we all use because Liam wanted something.

“He did him that favour, a massive error because he’s being investigated, and they’re seeing what was transferred in that vehicle.

“It’s one of the things the investigators are looking at, at the moment, and obviously this hotel worker has been suspended. He’s a cherished member of staff, a good worker, but he disobeyed an order that could have proved fatal.”

A toxicology report completed as part of the autopsy revealed traces of pink cocaine – a combination of methamphetamine, ketamine and MDMA – in his system, as well as

cocaine and benzodiazepine.

Police also found an improvised aluminium pipe used to smoke crack cocaine in his suite.

The English pop star, 31, died instantly, according to the post mortem, suffering multiple injuries as he fell almost 14m from the balcony onto the concrete footpath below.

Originally published as Liam Payne apparently previously overdosed and had to be revived