Liam Payne once admitted that he was worried about his “rock bottom.”
Former One Direction heartthrob Liam Payne struggled with alcohol and drugs in the years before his sudden death at an Argentina hotel this week – and even admitted in one interview that he was not sure “how far [his] rock bottom” was going to be.
Payne made the startling confession during a 2021 appearance on the “Diary of a CEO” podcast in 2021, in which he opened up about how the harsh realities of being part of the boy band fueled his substance abuse.
“I was worried how far my rock bottom was going to be. Where’s rock bottom for me? And you would never have seen it. I’m very good at hiding it,” he told the host.
“I don’t even know if I’ve hit it yet.”
The “Strip That Down” singer, 31, died on Wednesday when he fell from a third-floor balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires.
He was described by the hotel manager as an “aggressive” customer who may have been under the effects of drugs and alcohol in the frantic moments before the fatal plunge.
Payne was just 16 when he shot to superstardom as part of One Direction, the boy band fostered by Simon Cowell after the five members initially auditioned as solo artists for “The X Factor.”
The group’s lead single “What Makes You Beautiful” debuted in 2010 and quickly climbed the charts. By the time One Direction went on hiatus five years later, it was already one of the best-selling boy bands of all time.
Payne struggled with “pills and booze” and had “moments of suicidal ideation,” during the peak of the band’s wild success, he said during the “Diary of a CEO” interview.
“In the band… the best way to secure us, because of how big we’d got, was just to lock us in our rooms. What’s in the room? A mini-bar,” he said of the grueling tour schedule.
“So at a certain point I thought, I’m just going to have a party-for-one and that seemed to carry on for many years of my life.
“Then you look back at how long you’ve been drinking and you’re like, ‘Jesus Christ, that’s a long time.’”
Being “trapped” in “lonely hotel rooms…really f—d me up,” Payne added.
“There were points where it was toxic and difficult.
