Liam Payne had complex relationships with some of his former One Direction bandmates – including one he 'absolutely hated'.
The Teardrops singer fell from a balcony at the CasaSur Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Wednesday (October 16) and died instantly, authorities have stated. Liam is understood to have fallen from around 13 or 14 metres, sustaining "very serious injuries incompatible with life."
His former bandmates – Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik – issued a joint statement on Thursday night (October 17), where they called Liam a "brother" who they "loved dearly."
"The memories we shared with him will be treasured forever," it read. "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."
However, Liam didn't always get along with other members of the band, who met on the X Factor in 2010. The group went on 'hiatus' in 2016 which later turned into a permanent split.
Since then, all five members have opened up about various rivalries and spats. Most notable was Zayn, who said the group had become sick of each other after five years as an ensemble. Almost a year after leaving the boyband, Zayn said: "I think I always wanted to go, from like the first year, really."
Liam and Zayn were known to have a tense relationship. Speaking of their rapport on Logan Paul's Impaulsive podcast, Liam admitted he 'disliked' Zayn but had sympathy for him because of how he had been brought up.
"There's many reasons why I dislike Zayn and there's many reasons why I'll always, always be on his side," he confessed. "You can always look at the man for where he is and say, 'Oh, yeah, whatever that guy's a d**k.' Right?
"But at the end of the day, once you understand what he's been through to get to that point, and also whether or not he even wanted to be there... 'I'm so misunderstood by myself more than anyone, like I don't know what I'm doing or why I'm here,'" he continued.
"It's like, I can't sit here and d**k on him because of whatever." Liam later apologised to Zayn for discussing him on the podcast.
Zayn wasn't the only band member Liam didn't always get along with. In 2019, he admitted he and Louis had 'absolutely hated each other' at first.
"When we were in the band it kind of felt like, because he was the oldest and because I'd been singing for quite a bit of time we both got put in a weird position," he said.
"He was wanting to be the leader and I was doing my thing and wanted to. So at first we didn't get on at all. We absolutely hated each other, it was so funny. Really bad. We hid it well."
Despite their initial rivalry, the pair grew closer after the band split up and Liam even appeared on Louis' documentary, All Of Those Voices, in March 2023.
The same cannot be said of Liam's relationship with Harry, with whom he said he doesn't have 'anything in common'. In an interview with The Face in 2019, Liam said: "There's so much mystery around who he's become. I was looking at some pictures of him the other day, and I just thought: 'I don't know what more I'd say to him other than, 'Hello' and 'How are you?'.'
"I mean, look at the stuff I put out, and the stuff Harry puts out. Polar opposite. I’m like the antichrist version of what Harry is." Speaking to Esquire in the same year, he said the pair had never been particularly close.
Liam and Niall were closer than other band members, with the late singer having jetted off to Argentina to watch the Irish star in concert. A source told Dailymail.com: "When Liam attended Niall’s show earlier this month, he really wanted to just tell him he was proud of him, and it was genuine," adding they had an 'unbreakable' bond.
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