Fans feared Liam Payne’s dream life as a pop icon with movie star looks, a stunning girlfriend, “mini-me” son and £46m in the bank was spiralling out of control in the run up to his death.
They grew repeatedly worried about the star following an erratic red carpet appearance, shock hospitalisation, cancelled gigs and rambling videos.
Just days before his Argentina hotel death plunge a security guard had to ask him to stop dancing wildly in his private box at a gig by fellow ex-One Direction star Niall Horan.
READ MORE: Liam Payne’s final hours – ‘erratic’ behaviour, smashed-up room and frantic 911 call
READ MORE: Liam Payne’s chilling 911 call before death in full as hotel staff worried ‘life at risk’
(Image: America TV)
A video posted on social media showed him looking strained as he greeted fans, signed autographs and sang his song Familiar with critics saying he looked “out of it”.
Earlier this month he shared a bizarre video on Snapchat shot from his bed in which he claimed he and Niall “needed to talk”.
Fans asked if he was “okay” with one writing: “I hope Liam has people who care about him around him.”
Last year they shared their concern after he cancelled his tour of South America after being hospitalised with a “serious kidney infection”.
He said doctors had ordered him to “rest and recover” and though he intended to reschedule he offered fans who had bought tickets refunds.
His nurse mum Karen said at the time she was “worried sick” and felt “helpless”.
After the 2022 Oscars he gave a strange interview in an American accent defending his pal Will Smith for slapping Chris Rock that night.
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In a video posted six days prior to promote Unicef’s Soccer Aid he spoke with a strong British accent.
Liam, from Wolverhampton, later said he’d had `a lot to drink’ at the Oscars and was a `social chameleon’ whose accent was `ever-changing’.
In a podcast interview that year he lashed out at former One Direction bandmate Zayn Malik – branding him a “dick” – and got such a backlash from fans he could not go out for three months.
He later tweeted an apology and admitted things had gone “quite dark” for him.
Last year (2023) he opened up about his mental health and revealed doctors diagnosed him with a “couple of conditions” after he spent some time in a wellness clinic in the US after hitting “rock bottom”.
He described “manic” instances in his life and his difficulty in staying sober during “super low” moments.
In 2019 he told the Straight Talking with Ant Middleton podcast: “Fame is like having a weird midlife crisis. I am lucky to be here still.
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“There’s times where that level of loneliness and people getting into you every day every so often…that’s almost nearly killed me a couple of times.
“I’ve been in a bad place. It’s been on the menu a couple of times in my life.
“You think there’ll be another hurdle in a couple of months. You just need to get on with it. It’s always turned out alright, even in the darkest situations.’”
Yet moments before his death he shared a rush of Snapchat posts showing him and his influencer girlfriend of two years Kate Cassidy on an apparently happy trip to Argentina.
One showed the couple having breakfast together.
He captioned another: “Lovely day in Argentina.”
His final post was a photo of the couple on his 30th birthday.
Kate had left him to return to the US two days before his death.
His model ex-fiancee Maya Henry, 23, had issued him with a cease-and-desist legal order last week after claiming he had repeatedly tried to contact her.
Liam, who raked in a fortune with One Direction and sold 18m singles and 2.4m albums as a solo artist following the boy band’s 2016 split, had previously told how he stockpiled his wealth to pass on to his seven-year-old son Bear (corr). from a two-year relationship with Cheryl Cole.
In one of his last online posts he spoke of his pride about his son – who he called his “mini-me” – and vowed to get his “life together”.
Broadcaster Mike Parry summed up the reaction of millions to Liam’s death.
“Absolutely gobsmacked to get up this morning to find that One Direction mega-star Liam Payne has died in an unbelievable accident,’” he wrote on X.
“What a tragedy. He had the world at his feet.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
