Liam Payne, who has died at the age of 31, developed ‘agoraphobia’ which caused him to struggle with everyday tasks after finding fame with One Direction.
Payne died after falling from his hotel balcony in Buenos Aires on October 16, 2024. His cause of death has not been revealed.
Fans and celebrities have taken to social media with heartbroken tributes, while a vigil is taking place outside Hotel Casa Sur in Argentina, where he died.
The police were called to the scene after being ‘informed of an aggressive man who may have been under the effects of drugs and alcohol’.
Alberto Crescenti, head of the Buenos Aires medical emergency services SAME, spoke on the television channel TN: ‘Our role was to head there quickly, give medical attention, and try to resuscitate him, but his injuries were incompatible with life.’
Payne previously opened up about how he developed a ‘bit of agoraphobia’ after shooting to fame in One Direction and struggled with his mental health.
‘It’s the getting ready and always knowing that you might be photographed. I developed a bit of agoraphobia,’ he explained to Esquire Middle East in 2019.
‘I would never leave the house and I do sometimes suffer with it a bit in the sense that I’ll get days where I just don’t want to leave my house.’
The singer recalled having trouble ordering a coffee, or filling up a car at a petrol station.
‘I’d be sweating buckets in the car thinking, “I don’t want to do this,”‘ he added. ‘Unfortunately, it does happen to everybody in this industry. I think you just have to get over it as quickly as you can.’
Agoraphobia has been described as ‘a fear of being in situations where escape might be difficult or that help wouldn’t be available if things go wrong’ by the NHS.
What is agoraphobia?
Agoraphobia is a fear of being in situations where escape might be difficult or that help wouldn’t be available if things go wrong.
Many people assume agoraphobia is simply a fear of open spaces, but it’s actually a more complex condition.
Someone with agoraphobia may be scared of:
- travelling on public transport
- visiting a shopping centre
- leaving home
If someone with agoraphobia finds themselves in a stressful situation, they’ll usually experience the symptoms of a panic attack, such as:
- rapid heartbeat
- rapid breathing (hyperventilating)
- feeling hot and sweaty
- feeling sick
They’ll avoid situations that cause anxiety and may only leave the house with a friend or partner. They’ll order shopping online rather than going to the supermarket. This change in behaviour is known as avoidance.
He also opened up about the struggles of parenting his son Bear, who he welcomed with Girls Aloud star Cheryl in 2017.
He told the publication: ‘People make it out like a lightbulb comes on and suddenly you’re a dad and it’s like… no.
‘[Being a father] is something you have to learn, and I’m not afraid to say it takes more than a f***ing minute to get your head around the idea of what it is.’
He added: ‘The not understanding is the most difficult bit. Especially when you have a toddler who doesn’t understand how to communicate and you can’t understand what they want.’
Payne opened up about his struggles with mental health on multiple occasions, revealing that he endured a ‘tough time’ at the height of the band’s fame.
‘Going out and putting that happy smile on my face and singing the songs, honestly, sometimes it was like putting on one of those costumes, going out there and, underneath the costume, people don’t really see what’s going on,’ he told The Sun in 2017.
‘And unfortunately I was going through a rough time and I let it get to me a little bit too much.’
Aged just 16, Payne found stratospheric fame when he joined One Direction in 2010 as he, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson formed a boy band on The X Factor after auditioning solo.
The band became one of the biggest boy bands in the world, and with hits including What Makes You Beautiful, Story of My Life and Night Changes they triggered Beatles-like mania among fans.
‘I was very confused about fame when it all happened,’ Payne told the BBC in 2019, ‘and learning to be a person outside of your job was difficult. But now I feel like I get it. I’m a lucky boy.’
In the same interview Payne recalled how shortly after he released Strip That Down – his first solo endeavour after One Direction in 2017 – he gave up drinking.
‘There were a couple of very dark years of me going through extreme peril with different mental health things,’ he said. ‘I just didn’t know where I was going to end up.’
This article was originally published on May 31, 2019.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
