Liam Payne was reportedly struggling with his mental health in the moments before his death on October 16.
Several witnesses told TMZ that the former One Direction member was “acting erratically” in the lobby of the CasaSur Palermo hotel in Argentina, where he was staying as a guest.
Was the erratic behavior due to being “high”?
Liam Payne reportedly smashed his laptop and had to be escorted back to his room due to his behavior.
Local news outlet La Nacion reported on October 17 that police were called to “an aggressive man who may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol” at the hotel.
At around 5 p.m. local time, Liam Payne is said to have fallen from the balcony of his room to his death. It is unclear whether the incident was intentional or accidental. He was 31 years old.
Page Six reached out to a rep for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Photos obtained by TMZ show the Night Changes singer lying on the ground outside the hotel. Police and first responders were on the scene.
Despite claims that Payne was acting erratically, he posted a series of videos on Snapchat on October 16 in which he appeared to be in good health and even said he was “having a great day” in Argentina in one of them.
The What Makes You Beautiful singer appeared to be in the South American country to support former One Direction member Niall Horan, who recently performed there.
Payne was in Argentina with girlfriend Kate Cassidy. But it appears the scenes with Kate, 25, flew home to Florida earlier this week, according to her TikTok account.
However, according to the Daily Mail, he has recently been preparing for a legal battle with his ex Maya Henry.
Earlier this week, the newspaper reported that the model’s lawyer sent Payne a cease and desist letter.
“Since we broke up, Payne has been texting me, blowing up my phone, not just from his phone but from different numbers,” Henry claimed in a recent TikTok.
Henry, 23, also recently revealed that she had an abortion while she and Payne were together. The former couple dated from 2018 to 2022.
Payne also has a seven-year-old son, Bear, with ex Cheryl Cole – who he dated from 2016 to 2018.
He met the pop star, 41, while on The X Factor – the UK-based singing competition show that launched his career with One Direction.
A source who knows the former One Direction member told Page Six that Liam Payne spent the last years of his life in crisis:
“Liam has been behaving in a toxic way for a long time. He has been open about his struggles but has tried to downplay them at times. But the demons inside him are much worse than he lets on.”
The cause of death was not immediately released, but police said the Strip That Down singer may have been “under the influence of drugs or alcohol” before he threw himself off his balcony, suffering “extremely serious” injuries and ultimately dying.
The British pop star, who began his career on “The X Factor” in 2008 as one-fifth of One Direction, has been outspoken about his struggles with addiction and mental health issues in recent years.
Payne said on a podcast in 2021 that he hit “rock bottom” and experienced “suicidal thoughts” during his time in the chart-topping boy band, which disbanded in 2016 and also included Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson (Zayn Malik left the group in 2015).
But Payne announced in 2023 that he had gone to rehab and had been sober for more than 100 days.
