What we know about former One Direction member Liam Payne’s death

CNN
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Former One Direction band member Liam Payne has died aged 31 after falling from the third floor of the CasaSur Palermo hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, according to police. The exact circumstances of his death are still unclear.

Here’s what we know:

According to a 911 call obtained by CNN’s local affiliate Todo Noticias, hotel staff had requested urgent police assistance shortly before Payne’s fall.

“We have a guest who is overwhelmed by drugs and alcohol,” said the hotel manager during the phone call. “He breaks things down. He tears the whole room apart.”

The manager said they “urgently need someone to be sent to us” as staff did not know “whether the guest’s life is in danger”.

Hotel staff were not allowed into the room where the guest had stayed for “two or three days,” the manager said in the call.

Pablo Policicchio, communications director for Buenos Aires’ security ministry, said in a statement to The Associated Press that Payne “jumped from the balcony of his room.”

Police rushed to the hotel in response to an emergency call shortly after 5 p.m. local time, he said, warning of an “aggressive man who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”

Photos of Payne’s hotel room released by Buenos Aires police showed a broken television.

Authorities are now investigating the circumstances of his death and conducting an autopsy.

In recent years, Payne has spoken publicly about struggling with his mental health and substance abuse.

On the 2019 Sky show Ant Middleton & Liam Payne: Straight Talking, he reflected on recurring feelings of loneliness, saying: “There are times when you feel such levels of loneliness every day and people feel get involved with you… every now and then you think: When is this going to end?”

“It almost killed me a few times,” he added.

Payne also spoke about dealing with alcoholism on The Diary of a CEO podcast in 2021, saying, “It was a problem” and had “really, really serious” aspects.

“It feels to me like we were in the band back then and the best way to protect ourselves, given the size of the band, was to just lock ourselves in our rooms. And of course, what’s in the room? Mini-bar. So at a certain point I thought I’d have a party – and that seemed to continue for many years of my life,” he added.

“It’s wild, but it was the only way to get rid of the frustration of the day,” he said.

Payne was born on August 29, 1993 in the English city of Wolverhampton and studied music technology at the City of Wolverhampton College.

He was still living in the area when he rose to fame on British TV competition show The X Factor. He first appeared on the show in 2008 as a 14-year-old and returned to audition for a second time two years later on the advice of Simon Cowell.

He won the hearts of young fans alongside Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson after they all joined forces to form One Direction on the show.

As they built a worldwide fan base for Directioners, the popular boy band became the first to have their first four albums debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The group, also called 1D, sold more than 70 million records worldwide before disbanding in 2016.

The band was known for songs such as “What Makes You Beautiful,” “Best Song Ever,” “Story of My Life,” “Steal My Girl,” and “Night Changes,” and Payne’s solo songs include “Strip That Down (feat. Quavo), which reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, “Familiar” and “Bedroom Floor.” At the beginning of the year he released the song “Teardrops”.

Payne is survived by his 7-year-old son Bear, who he had with former Girls Aloud member and X Factor judge Cheryl Tweedy.