Liam Payne’s death was a ‘wake-up call’ for former One Direction members: report

Two months after Liam Payne’s tragic death at 31, his former One Direction bandmates — including Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson — are now reevaluating their bond.

“[Liam’s death] was a wake-up call for all of them. Prior, they kept in touch sporadically but didn’t have close friendships at all,” a source told Us Weekly on Wednesday.

The insider noted that the boy band members have since pledged to mend their friendships.

“They’re all still mourning but are checking in on each other and feel closer than they have in years,” continued the source. “It brought them back together.”

Styles, 30, Tomlinson, 32, and Malik and Horan, both 31, all attended Payne’s private funeral in Amersham, England, last month. The somber reunion marked the first time the pop stars have all been together since Malik left One Direction in 2015. The band then went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016.

After news of Payne’s death, the band released a joint statement on their official Instagram band account.

“We’re completely devastated by the news of Liam’s passing. In time, and when everyone is able to, there will be more to say,” they wrote. “But for now, we will take some time to grieve and process the loss of our brother, who we loved dearly. The memories we shared with him will be treasured forever. For now, our thoughts are with his family, his friends and the fans who loved him alongside us. We will miss him terribly. We love you Liam.”

Years before Payne died, the singer spoke candidly about his time in One Direction on Jessie Ware’s podcast “Table Manners” in 2019.

Payne said that the boy band, which was formed during “The X Factor,” endured a “mess” of a schedule dealing with sold out tours before an album was ever recorded. 

“There’s no stop button,” he told Ware at the time. “You’ve got no control over your life. That’s why I lost complete control of everything.”   

The five musicians shot to superstardom in 2010, and splitting up after six years was “really scary at first,” for Payne.

“I needed to stop. It would’ve killed me,” the “Strip That Down” artist admitted.

Payne went on to have a solo career, releasing one album, “LP1,” in 2019 and said he had begun working on a follow-up. 

After leaving One Direction, Payne noticed himself struggling to break the habits of partying and over-working that he developed while in the group. 

The late superstar decided, “You’re either going to end up a crazy child star who dies at whatever age, or you’re going to live life and actually get on with it.”

“I remember getting to therapy and the guy was like ‘What do you like to do?’ I didn’t know,” Payne recalled.

This wasn’t the first time the UK native got candid on his struggles during his boy band years. In 2019, he told Men’s Health Australia 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,” Payne went on. “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.”

He said that going on stage and out in public was like “putting the Disney costume on,” confessing: “I was [drunk] quite a lot of the time because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on.”

“I mean, it was fun,” Payne explained. “We had an absolute blast, but there were certain parts of it where it just got a little bit toxic.”

There had also been turmoil between the band members over the years, with Payne’s ex-fiancée, Maya Henry, claiming that Malik was the One Direction member who allegedly “threw” her ex “up a wall” during a backstage fight at a concert.

Although Payne did not share what led to their alleged altercation, he noted on the “Impaulsive” podcast in 2022: “There’s many reasons why I dislike Zayn, and there’s many reasons why I’ll always, always be on his side.”

Payne fell to his death from the third floor of his hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Oct. 16. 

Medical officials confirmed that the star had a “cranial fracture and extremely serious injuries that led to his immediate death.”

Witnesses told TMZ Payne was acting “erratic” before his sudden passing. He allegedly smashed his laptop in the hotel lobby and was carried back to his room before the fall.

Payne, who was dating influencer Kate Cassidy at the time of his death, shared son Bear, 7, with ex Cheryl Cole. The pair met when she was a judge on his season of “The X Factor.”