The ups and downs of Liam Payne’s career highlights and life ahead of his sudden death were the focus of a new Nightline documentary.
The ABC News Studio production, part of its “Impact x Nightline” series, debuted on Thursday, October 25, charting Payne’s last days in Argentina.
“We had multiple encounters with Liam. [There were] multiple times, he had come down to the lobby, was causing a disturbance,” a hotel guest, who was not named, recalled in the doc. “[He] kept being escorted back up to his room.”
Payne had been staying at a local Buenos Aires, Argentina hotel at the time of his death. According to the tourist interviewed, the late One Direction star appeared “very frustrated” on each trip to the lobby.
Inside Liam Payne’s Legacy: From One Direction to His Haunting Final Days
“[He] was smashing his laptop in the lobby,” the guest claimed. “And then the final time he came back down, he actually passed out in the lobby of the hotel.”
It is not known how Payne made it back to his room. By 5:00 p.m. local time, a hotel employee made an emergency phone call to 911 and requested aid for a guest who appeared to be drunk and kept breaking multiple items.
By the time first responders arrived on the scene, Payne had fallen off his third-floor balcony. According to a preliminary autopsy viewed by Us Weekly, Payne died on the scene from “multiple injuries involving ‘internal and external hemorrhage’” and was in a state of semi or total unconsciousness” at the time of the fall. Payne was 31.
While an investigation into Payne’s death is ongoing, it has been reported that he had multiple drugs in his system including “pink cocaine.” (Payne notably struggled with addiction since One Direction broke up in 2016. He went to rehab in 2023, later confirming that year he was 100 days sober.)
Everything to Know So Far About Liam Payne’s Shocking Death at 31
In a 2021 episode of the “Diary of a CEO” podcast, Payne linked his sobriety struggles to his days in the British boy band and started drinking because he was “so in [his] own way.”
“One of the reasons why individuals who catapult to fame might appear to be at greater risk for addiction is just because of the fact that there’s so much stress and scrutiny,” social psychologist Azadeh Aalai said in the Nightline doc. “They need some kind of outlet or escape.”
While further details about Payne’s sobriety since his 2023 rehab stay are not presently known, his family, fans and more are remembering his legacy as an individual and a musician.
“I’m not necessarily grieving the person he became, but the person he was,” Natalie Barada, a 22-year-old 1D fan who has listened to the band since she was 9, said in an interview for the doc. “That was the Liam we knew; that was the Liam that we fell in love with and the Liam we fell in love with. It’s just, like, losing part of that childhood.”
Fans Hold Vigil Outside Argentina Hotel After Liam Payne’s Death
Payne rose to fame as a member of One Direction, which was formed on The X Factor UK in 2010. Payne and his fellow singers — Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik — were put together as a group after failed solo auditions.
“He wanted to be a singer. He didn’t talk about fame to me,” classical musician Mary Byrne, who also competed on season 7 of X Factor UK, said in a separate interview for Nightline. “He talked about wanting to be a singer. I was the oldest woman on the show and I was treated like their mummy to all the kids that were there.”
According to Byrne, 64, Payne was “very compassionate” and that “will always stick in [her] mind.”
One Direction, despite finishing in third place on X Factor UK, went on to become one of the biggest boy bands in history. After five chart-topping albums, Malik, 31, left the group in 2015. The rest of the members disbanded the next year, all pursuing solo careers.
Malik, Tomlinson, 32, Styles, 30, and Horan, 31, each released individual statements, as well as a group message, after Payne’s death.
Payne is survived by his parents, two older sisters, and 7-year-old son Bear, whom he shared with ex Cheryl Cole.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
Impact x Nightline: One Direction: Liam Payne’s Final Days is currently streaming on Hulu.
