Boy George has expressed remorse over “not very nice” social media comments directed at Liam Payne, following the pop icon’s untimely death.
The former The Voice judge expressed his regret as he reflected on the need for young stars to access support to avoid such gut-wrenching tragedies.
Dad-of-one Payne was a troubled man who battled with his mental health and addiction, and who was found with drugs in his system when he died. The Culture Club icon is no stranger to addiction, having previous struggles with heroin.
He recalled how he broke down in tears on learning of Liam's "senseless" death.
He said: "I was up at five in the morning, and it came up on the American news, and I literally was like 'What the f**k?' I was literally like 'No, this isn't real'. I couldn't take it in.”
Talking to High Performance podcast hosts Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes, the singer expressed his desire to say to starlets thrusted into sudden fame, like Liam to “get some therapy before you need it”.
Reflecting on his own behaviour, he recalled an unhelpful comment he made on one of Liam’s last social media posts.
He said: “In the case of Liam Payne, I'd watched him a few days before it happened. I remember watching online and I'd actually put a message under a post saying 'he's off his nut', which wasn't very nice, but I felt it. I felt like he was out of control."
The Do You Really Want To Hurt Me singer added that if he had someone to help him navigate fame, he might have avoided some of his own troubles.
He said: “I probably wouldn't have done a lot of the things that I did had I had someone to talk to. If I'd had someone to teach me some philosophy, open my mind up about what I was capable of”, reports the Mirror.
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