Paddy McGuinness has shared a heartbreaking text message from Liam Payne as One Direction star discussed his sobriety before his tragic death aged just 31.
The singer plunged 45ft from the third floor into the courtyard of the Casa Sur Hotel in Argentina’s capital on Wednesday, before medics confirmed his death.
Paying tribute Paddy praised him for his ‘open and honest’ approach to conversation as he remembered the time they spent together.
The comedian uploaded a screenshot of a message from Liam to Instagram and wrote: ‘I really enjoyed the small amount of time I got to hang out with Liam. His messages were always open and honest.
‘I could never comprehend that level of fame and attention? Let alone the effect it has on someone so young? Rest in peace young un.’
Paddy McGuinness has shared a heartbreaking text message from Liam Payne as One Direction star discussed his sobriety before his tragic death aged just 31
The singer plunged 45ft from the third floor into the courtyard of the Casa Sur Hotel in Argentina’s capital on Wednesday, before medics confirmed his death
Liam’s message read: ‘Course mate. I don’t have many mates I can trust who know how I feel and since being sober I’m wanting to branch out more instead of hiding away.’
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The former One Direction star had reportedly arrived in the Latin American country earlier this month to attend his ex bandmate Niall Horan’s concert.
A statement from local police said they arrived to the hotel after they were ‘informed of an aggressive man who may have been under the effects of drugs and alcohol’. They have since launched an investigation.
Officials heard a loud sound in the courtyard before discovering his body just after 5pm, reported the BBC.
According to TMZ, Liam ‘had been acting erratic in the hotel lobby and smashed his laptop’ before he ‘had to be carried back to his room’.
Police had received a call from a worker at the hotel requesting urgent help with an intoxicated guest, according to audio related to the case obtained from the Buenos Aires security ministry.
‘When he is conscious he is destroying the entire room and we need you to send someone,’ the worker said.
Liam has been open in the past about his struggles with addiction, revealing that he experienced ‘severe’ suicidal thoughts and a wild ‘pills and booze phase’ during his One Direction days.
Paying tribute Paddy praised him for his ‘open and honest’ approach to conversation as he remembered the time they spent together
Local police have since launched an investigation into the sudden death, as tributes flood in the wake of the tragedy (pictured in 2023)
Liam was outspoken about how the global fame of One Direction changed his life and affected his relationship with alcohol , once admitting: ‘I don’t know if I’ve hit rock bottom yet’
Liam recalled how his dad told him during the build up to the December X Factor final ‘don’t come home until Christmas the day that I left for the show and I never came home’ (pictured on the show aged 16)
He celebrated the milestone of 100 days sober in May last year, and the singer said he felt ‘amazing’ and ‘super happy’.
Richard Madeley also said that Liam was ‘always very open about the demons who pursued him’ during Thursday’s Good Morning Britain.
He went on to reveal that Liam was ‘proud of the fact recently that he was celebrating being 100 days clean’.
Richard said on the programme: ‘He was always very open about the demons who pursued him.
‘It is so common that these young people who are extraordinarily famous at such a young age are thrust into this churning mill.
‘He was very very frank with his issues with drugs and he was very proud of the fact recently that he was celebrating being 100 days clean. He was 100 days clean and he was very proud, it was a real achievement.
‘Unlike some stars, he was very good with his public, open with people, happy to stand and chat.’
Liam was outspoken about how the global fame of One Direction changed his life and affected his relationship with drugs and alcohol, once admitting: ‘I don’t know if I’ve hit rock bottom yet.’
Speaking to Stephen Bartlett on the Diary Of The CEO Podcast in 2021, Liam, admitted: ‘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’.
‘I don’t even know if I have hit it yet. I can either make that choice now and pick my last moment as my rock bottom or I can make a whole new low.’
He admitted he had suffered for years with ‘social anxiety’ and ‘stress’ from being famous, and discussed the pressure his mental health was under while not having the freedom to go anywhere as a boyband member.
The Wolverhampton teenager first auditioned for the X Factor aged 14 before returning two years later when One Direction was formed.
They became one of the biggest pop groups in the world but six years after they were formed, with more than 20 million albums sold, the band were placed on indefinite hiatus.
The band have revealed how they went straight from The X Factor to stardom, with Liam recalling how his dad told him during the build up to the December X Factor final ‘don’t come home until Christmas the day that I left for the show and I never came home.’
He admitted he had suffered for years with ‘social anxiety’ and ‘stress’ from being famous, and discussed the pressure his mental health was under (pictured in 2023)
Liam said his drinking began when the global mania for the boyband meant they were often stuck in hotel rooms, where alcohol was readily available
Liam had in recent years talked about his journey to sobriety, and how his drinking began when the global mania for the boyband meant they were often stuck in hotel rooms, where alcohol was readily available.
He told Stephen Bartlett on the Diary Of The CEO Podcast: ‘It feels to me, like when we were in the band. The best way to secure us was to lock us in our rooms, and what is in the room? A mini-bar.
‘So I had a party-for-one that seemed to carry on for many years of my life, and then you look back at how long you’ve been drinking? And Jesus Christ that’s a long time, even for someone as young as I am.’
In multiple interviews Liam explained how he’d used alcohol to cope with both the massive success of One Direction and their subsequent split, telling Men’s Health in 2019 that ‘it’s difficult when you have the level of fame that we had in the band.’
‘There have been a lot of people in trouble with mental health that aren’t really getting the help that they need, and I think that’s a bit of a problem in our industry,’
‘It’s the same s**t that happens to everyone, that’s been happening since the ’70s. You know what the traps are and if you are lucky enough, like me, to be able to get out of that scenario and back into a sense of normality, then you know it’s a bit different.’
Emergency medical services director Alberto Crescenti said Liam had suffered ‘very serious injuries after falling from a third floor into an internal courtyard’.
‘We verified his identity using the passport he had,’ he said.
‘Afterwards we found out he had been a famous singer. Unfortunately the injuries he had suffered as a result of the fall proved to be fatal. There was no possibility of resuscitating him.’
Mr Crescenti told Argentine newspaper Clarin that ‘the team saw that he apparently had a fracture at the base of the skull’.
His body was transported to a local morgue where a post-mortem examination will be carried out.
Unverified pictures have since emerged online claiming to be Liam’s hotel room completely trashed with one image showing a smashed television screen
The star’s final Snapchat post showed him happily posing with his partner Kate Cassidy as they looked into a mirror – a picture which was originally taken last August.
Several witnesses said Payne had fallen from his room at the Casa Sur Palmero Hotel shortly after 5pm (ART) Wednesday evening; he is seen in 2018
The popstar had reportedly arrived in the Latin American country earlier this month to attend his ex bandmate Niall Horan’s concert
A heartbreaking video shows Liam singing and dancing at Horan’s concert in Argentina just days before he was found dead
Payne’s haunting final social media post showed him spending time with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy
Further posts from the final moments of the star’s life showed him enjoying lunch in his hotel room, where he revealed the pair had been ‘waking up at 1pm every day’ and deciding on Forest Gump as a Halloween costume.
A further tragic selfie was captioned: ‘Lovely day in Argentina’ before the star shared a photo of his hotel, writing: ‘Happy I got some time away’ followed by a heart emoji.
He shared a further photo with Kate captioned: ‘Quality time.’
He and his former bandmates Harry, Niall, Zayn, and Louis, were brought together by Simon Cowell and former judge Nicole Scherzinger who saw their potential as a group.
After just a few weeks of getting to know each other and non-stop rehearsing, the group impressed Simon at their Judge’s Houses audition and sailed through to the live shows.
Despite the adoration, the band ultimately finished in third place on the X Factor but shortly afterwards Cowell sealed their fate by signing the fivesome to a contract with Syco.
Keen to capitalize on the boys’ already devoted fanbase, Cowell moved quickly with recording for the band’s debut album beginning in January 2011.
By September of that year One Direction’s first single was released with What Makes You Beautiful soaring to number one on the UK Singles Chart, after becoming the most pre-ordered Sony Music Entertainment single in history.
The English star rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction, alongside his former bandmates Harry, Niall, Zayn Malik, and Louis Tomlinson; (L-R) Liam, Niall, Louis, Zayn and Harry in 2013
Their debut album, Up All Night was also a best seller, becoming the UK’s fastest-selling debut album of 2011, with the record leading to their first tour which kicked off in the UK that December.
After Malik announced his departure from the band in 2015, the band members went their separate ways.
During their time as a group, One Direction won five Brit Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, amassed over three billion YouTube views and sold 50 million records worldwide.
After releasing five albums with one of the biggest boybands of all time, Liam released his first — and only — solo album titled LP1 in 2019.