Singer Liam Payne shot to fame on The X Factor at the tender age of 14 but since successfully finding stardom, has suffered numerous setbacks and struggles, having openly spoken out about his mental and physical health battles.
The former One Direction star has now been admitted to hospital with 'agonising kidney pain' after reportedly falling ill during a trip to Lake Como, Italy, with his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy. A source has said he's in a 'bad way' but 'in the best place he can be'.
It comes just weeks after Liam cancelled his upcoming tour following a 'serious kidney infection'. The 30-year-old singer was forced to call off his performances in South America after being taken to hospital for the first time in August.
"Liam is in a bad way but he's in the best place he can be and finally doctors will be able to get to the bottom of what is going on," an insider told The Sun. "Naturally he is gutted that his and Kate's trip to Lake Como has been ruined. But at least she was there to help him when he fell ill. Doctors have warned him not to expect to be signed off to go home for at least another six days. They want to do every test possible to understand the issue fully but they now suspect that there has been an underlying issue for a while that has been getting worse."
Health woesLiam is no stranger to health problems, having battled bouts of severe illness ever since he was a small baby. After being born prematurely in 1993, he regularly fell sick and spent a significant amount of time in hospital. Doctors soon noticed one of his kidneys was scarred, which resulted in him undergoing sixteen injections in his arm every morning and night.
"I effectively died as a baby," he revealed in 2011. "I was born three weeks early and I kept being ill. From the age of zero to four I was always in hospital having tests done but they couldn't find out what was wrong." Liam's health issues fortunately eased up as he got older, and he even fell in love with athletics after joining cross country in school. His passion for sport, coupled with his history of health issues, was another motivator for taking care of his body. "I have to be careful not to drink too much, even water, and I have to keep myself as healthy as possible," he said.
Liam's recent tour postponement isn't the first time that the star has rescheduled gigs due to poor health. In January 2022, the singer postponed his Here's to the Future virtual showcase, after testing positive for COVID-19. In May 2021, he revealed he was suffering from a mystery respiratory illness, telling fans he's been "coughing" and "very poorly" for the past few weeks. "I feel sorry for anybody else out there who is also sick at the moment. But as the good old British people say, 'It is going around'," he added.
Liam's life changed forever more than a decade ago when he was put into a boy band alongside Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan. But unsurprisingly, being in the spotlight came with a lot of pressure, with Liam candidly sharing his struggles with coming to terms with his newfound fame and how it "nearly killed" him. In a Sky series with SAS man Ant Middleton in 2019, Liam admitted that he'd had difficulties with life in the public eye.
"For some certain circumstances I'm quite lucky to be here still," he told Ant, "There are times when that level of loneliness and people getting into you every day, it's like, 'When will this end?' That's almost nearly killed me a couple of times." When asked if he'd contemplated taking his own life, Liam said: "Yeah, when I've been in a bad place. It's one hundred per cent, you know? There's no point denying it - it's definitely been on the menu a couple of times in my life."
One Direction was formed in 2010 but split six years later, after the decision was made to take solo careers. In 2017, Liam spoke out about having panic attacks and struggling to celebrate their successes whilst in the band. "I shouldn't have been able to do as many shows as we did, if I'm honest about it," he told The Sun. "Going out and putting that happy smile on my face and singing the songs, honestly, sometimes it was like putting on one of those costumes, going out there and, underneath the costume, people don't really see what's going on."
Looking back, Liam didn't think the band took enough time out to celebrate their achievements because they were always so busy, and that's eventually what "got on top of us in the end". He recalled winning three EMAs but not being able to enjoy it because they had to jump straight on a plane to the next place.
Troubling 'pills and booze' phaseThe singer turned to alcohol and drugs to cope at the height of 1D's dizzying fame, and Liam admitted going through a wild "pills and booze phase" which made his face "10 times bigger". Speaking on the Diary of a CEO podcast with Steven Bartlett, he said: "I was worried how far my rock bottom was going to be. Where's rock bottom for me? And you would never have seen it. I'm very good at hiding it. No one would ever have seen it."
Asked about "moments of suicidal ideation", Liam replied: "Yeah. There is definitely some stuff I have never spoken about to do with it. It was really, really severe. There were a few pictures of me on a boat and I was all bloated out and I call it my pills-and-booze face. My face was 10 times bigger than it is now. The problem was, the best way to secure us was to lock us in our rooms, and what is in the room? A mini-bar. So I had a party-for-one that seemed to carry on for years. It was wild but the only way you could get frustration out."
In 2011, Liam and his family were left devastated after his sister's boyfriend died after a fight. Former soldier Craig Glaze, 25, who was dating the 1D star's sister, Nicola, died after he was punched in the head. His best friend Martin Gannon was arrested and charged with manslaughter. It was reported Craig and Martin, 24, were best pals and next-door neighbours, who had known each other since the age of five, and were both close with Liam's family.
A source close to Liam said: "This is a real tragedy and has really upset Liam and his family. The pair were both friends of the Payne family and it has left them all devastated that one of them has been killed and the other arrested. Liam was friends with both and for one of them to die like this is just heartbreaking. To see another arrested is horrific as well. Needless to say Nicola is in pieces. She has lost her boyfriend - and her ex, who she still cared about, has been arrested. This year was supposed to be the best of Liam's life when the band made it to super-stardom but this was the worst possible start to the New Year."
Logan Paul interviewIn June 2022, Liam appeared on Logan Paul's podcast and made several controversial comments about the band, claiming that the group was formed around himself and that he outsold his fellow bandmates with his debut single. "From what I've heard, part of the reason One Direction was made was because of Simon's promise to me. That in two years I'll make this work for you. So he kind of started with my face and worked out around the rest. I've never told this story before," he said.
Liam later went on to imply that he's had the most successful solo career out of all of the band. Speaking about his 2017 solo debut Strip That Down, he said: "I think it outsold everybody within the band, and I was the last to go [solo]. And I never expected that." He also said there were "many reasons why I dislike Zayn" and said that he and Louis "hated" each other when they were in One Direction.
Liam boasted about fights, violent threats and crimes he'd committed. When asked about whether he'd ever actually come to blows with any of the band members, he said: "There was an argument backstage and one member (unnamed), in particular, threw me up a wall. So I said to him, 'If you don't remove those hands, there's a high likelihood you'll never use them again." While speaking about his feud with Justin Bieber, he revealed that he'd told the Baby singer: "I've done all the things that you've done and I've never been caught for any of them." In 2014 Bieber was arrested and charged with driving under the influence, driving with an expired licence and resisting arrest.
Another controversial moment to come out of the interview was when Liam claimed that his son Bear was to blame for his split from Cheryl. Speaking about fatherhood, he said: "It's different. To be honest with you it ruined a relationship for me in that point." However, he did claim that their relationship ended for "all the right reasons". Speaking about his son's future, Liam revealed that he doesn't wish fame for him. "The scariest thing for me is him waking up one day and going 'I want to be famous'... It scares the crap out of me because I know what it did to me."
The Logan Paul interview caused a massive uproar amongst Liam's fanbase and played a contributing factor in him hitting 'rock bottom'. He has since admitted that he was in a 'bad shape' and spent three months in a wellness clinic in Louisiana, US, to focus on himself and his mental health. During his 100-day stay, he went sober, had minimal contact with the outside world and spent a lot of time of focusing on art and poetry.
In July this year, Liam uploaded a video on YouTube called 'I'm Back...', where he opened up about seeking professional help. In the clip, he thanked his ex-girlfriend and mother of his son, Cheryl, for supporting his decision to get better and added that his former bandmates had stuck by him and 'came to my rescue'. He said the podcast interview was "hard for me to watch back" but that in a way, it had "saved my life" by making him seek help. "I needed to take some time out for myself. I kind of became someone who I didn't really recognise any more," he said.
"I was so angry at what was going on around me that instead of taking a look inwards, I decided to take it outwards on everybody else. It was wrong really, and my own frustrations with my own career. I want to apologise for that. The rest of the boys have really stuck by me and when I needed them most they kind of came to my rescue, even Zayn. It was hard for me to watch back. I think in those moments when you make those videos you don't really realise the impact that your words might have on other people. Looking back on it, the whole podcast was a big 'L'. In fact, it's probably one of those life-changing moments that saved my life in a way."
Liam added: "Honestly more than anything I want to say thank you to Bear and his mum for giving me a little bit of freedom to go and get well, as I had to. There is no point trying to be a dad when you have nothing to teach. I feel like I have a grip on life now. After I got back out, that process had worked for me, but there were still some little bits left that I kind of had to deal with myself."
