Former One Direction member Liam Payne rarely demonstrated inhibitions while speaking out about his mental health struggles and alcohol addiction before he tragically fell to his death from an Argentina hotel balcony on October 16. The following investigation further shed light on the involvement of drug abuse in his case, leading to an untimely death that shocked the music world earlier this month.
And now, a new report from Page Six has implied that the tragic star who was just 31 when he fell three stories, apparently under the influence of drugs, has also overdosed a few years ago. Multiple sources told the outlet that the 1D star overdosed and had to be revived at least once even when he outwardly appeared well and alive but was battling drug addiction behind closed doors years ago.
However, what particularly “shocked” the singer’s colleagues and friends was that his manager brought him on board the Netflix reality show Building the Band shortly after he returned from rehab. A senior music insider also asserted that they had previously been informed that the “Teardrops” singer had overdosed at least twice. The first source insisted that a lot of concerned looks were exchanged between people behind the Netflix show, which was meant to bring Liam under the same roof as Nicole Scherzinger (who helped put One Direction members together as a band during the old X Factor days) and Kelly Rowland.
Also read | Metro Boomin allegedly raped and impregnated a depressed, blacked out woman: New lawsuit
Liam Payne’s new manager isolated him, pushed him to do the Netflix show just after he got out of rehab
The curious development prompted “a lot of worried” text chains between the officials over how Payne’s “manager pushed him to do the show.” The source further pushed, “There was no way he was in any shape to do this.” Additionally, their claims aligned with other reports saying that the late “Strip That Down” couldn’t find the support he needed in the months leading up to his Argentina trip, which also served as a brief reunion stop for him and his bandmate Niall Horan at a concert.
“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,” the source continued. Previous reports also alleged that numerous officials, including Liam’s former manager and London-based publicist, parted ways with him. His souring solo career also reportedly caused his label, Universal Music, to drop him. Furthermore, it was revealed that a new manager was handling Payne’s affairs right before his death. He supposedly pushed Payne to apply himself, resuscitate his music career and go back on tour. Another insider alleged that this person moved the tragic singer to Miami, “away from all of his friends, he isolated him.”
With drug addiction consuming Payne’s life, plus his career’s failure to take off, unlike the other members, barely anything helped him recover. The 1D star is believed to have filmed the show earlier this year, but a different InTouch Weekly report suggested that the creatives didn’t have enough footage of the late singer to be featured in the show. It remains unclear if Liam will be featured in the show posthumously or how much of it has actually been completed.
Also read | Kanye West’s Japan ‘formula’ that fuelled 50 Cent’s rejection of $3m offer to perform at Trump’s MSG rally
A detailed autopsy report has yet to be released, and Liam’s body is still in Argentina. Local Argentine reports have also purportedly determined that security footage shows him fainting before his death. “There is footage that is not being released to the media with the balcony seen where you see that Liam faints and tragically, because of where he is, falls from that balcony,” a local journalist revealed, per The Mirror.
“If he had been beside his bed, he would have fallen on his bed. It’s not that he jumped deliberately. This footage is in the official case file,” she added, fuelling the theory that Payne’s fall was accidental.
