Niall Horan has discussed the death of his former bandmate Liam Payne, admitting he’s barely ‘touched the sides’ on his grief.
The One Direction star died unexpectedly aged 31 on October 16, 2024, after a fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
At the time, his bandmates put out joint and individual statements, with Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, and Zayn Malik all speaking out since.
Now, Niall, 32, has shared how he ‘made the mistake of turning on’ the TV to see coverage of Payne’s death.
‘Looking down at your phone, that’s shock,’ he said on The Tommy Tiernan Show. ‘Then, stupidly turning on Sky News, and then the next channel.
‘The whole world is talking about it, like it’s the biggest breaking news on the planet at that minute. I found it… because I was in the pictures with him.
‘I found that very weird. What your man beside me? Him there? That’s a strange one.’
He admitted he still hasn’t wrapped his head around the loss, having known Payne since they shared a room together on X Factor in 2010.
After seeing some of the coverage, Niall firmly decided he wasn’t going to watch any more or speak publicly about the loss.
‘I can’t go any further than this because I’ve got a funeral to go to and things like that,’ he shared. ‘I can’t be worrying about what they’re going to say next, because I have my own grief to deal with.’
For several weeks after, updates continued to be shared as local police investigated Payne’s death, with five people charged after he fell from a third-floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel.
Months later, Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court confirmed the cause of death was ‘polytrauma’, and the charges were dropped.
Speculation of excessive drug and alcohol usage at the time was rife, with photos revealing his decimated hotel room adding to the mystery.
The Dinner Party singer said he wanted to remember Payne through his own memories rather than what was being broadcast.
Niall had been in Buenos Aires around two weeks before the fall and met his former bandmate for a chat and a coffee, with Payne coming to his solo gig that night.
‘He was in the dressing room before and then, yeah, came to the show. It was great to see Liam,’ he acknowledged, explaining he then continued the tour before heading home.
‘Don’t know what day of the week it was,’ Niall continued. ‘I remember, and just looked down at my phone. I’d gotten a text.
‘I was just about to go asleep, and, you know, and the phone lights up, and you have a look, one last look. It was just pure shock.’
Niall said he was aware of Payne’s issues, which the Strip That Down singer had been openly discussing in the years before his death.
Despite their closeness in their teen years, they had drifted and Niall shared he ‘wasn’t aware of the depth’ of his friend’s issues.
Choking up slightly, the singer added: ‘I grew up with this fella, and all of a sudden, it’s just no more. It’s such a strange thing to go through. You go through, like, what could I have done if I’d known more? Should I have dug more into it? Like, could I talk to other people to get an angle on it?”
Louis, who previously revealed Niall had been the one to tell him, has also expressed how he wished he’d reached out more to his friend.
In a separate interview, Harry said he was still struggling to come to terms with the loss and dealing with his own grief alongside fans.
All remaining One Direction members are releasing (or already have released) solo albums this year, with Payne becoming a regular topic in interviews.
On his upcoming album, Dinner Party, Niall has written track End of an Era as a tribute to Payne.
Host Tommy said he felt for the former group, with Niall concluding: ‘I just haven’t wrapped my own head around it.
‘It’s a weird thing to be going through at thirty-something, that someone two weeks older than you can just be here today, gone tomorrow.’
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