One Direction Alum Liam Payne’s Quotes on Mental Health Struggles Over the Years

Over the years, Liam Payne shared many candid comments about his ups and downs with mental health.

Us Weekly confirmed in October 2024 that the former One Direction member died at age 31 after falling from a third-floor balcony at a Buenos Aires hotel. His cause of death was not revealed at the time.

One year before his tragic passing, Payne opened up about how skyrocketing to fame in the popular British boy band “left scars” on him.

“It's a great life and I have a lot of gratitude but there were definitely low moments that I'll never minimize,” he shared during an August 2023 interview on Columbia’s W Radio, per the Daily Mail. “It's just about having the right people around you at the right time and I was lucky to have people to watch my back when I was at my worst place and help me get the help that I need and not everybody is that lucky.”

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Payne went on to note that he was “lucky to be on the other side of it now and to have something to say and, like I said, it might change somebody’s life.”

Scroll down for more of Payne’s quotes about mental health:

November 2017

“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,” he told The Sun of performing in One Direction. (The group were formed on The X Factor in 2010 and officially announced their split in 2016.)

Payne recalled the group having to cancel an October 2015 show in Belfast, noting he was not “in a good place” at the time. “And unfortunately I was going through a rough time and I let it get to me a little bit too much. That was it,” he explained. “The more we did, I just don’t think we stopped and celebrated enough how great things were and I think that’s what got on top of us in the end.”

Despite fans' disappointment at the group’s disbandment, Payne said the breakup was something he and his bandmates — Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson — “needed.” (Zayn Malik left the group one year before their 2016 split.)

“I’m a totally different person now to how I used to be about it,” he said.

May 2019

“I don’t think I struggle in the sense of what you would naturally think of when I’m walking down the street with every person stopping me,” Payne said of dealing with fame in an interview for Esquire Middle East. “I mean, it happens sometimes but it’s mainly mentally where you struggle with it. It’s the getting ready and always knowing that you might be photographed.”

The musician revealed he had previously struggled with agoraphobia, a.k.a. the fear of being stuck in a place with difficult means of escape. “I would never leave the house. And I do sometimes suffer with it a bit in the sense that I’ll get days where I just don’t want to leave my house. Even if it’s just going to the shop,” he stated. “I’d be going to order a coffee at Starbucks and I would sweat because I wouldn’t know whether I was doing the right thing or not. I would be thinking: ‘F---, I don’t want to be here.’”

He continued: “Unfortunately, [anxiety] does happen to everybody in this industry. I think at a certain point you just have to get over it as quickly as you can.”

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June 2019

“When you’re doing hundreds and hundreds of [concerts] and it’s the same 22 songs at the same time every single day, even if you’re not happy, you’ve got to go out there,” Payne said in a Men’s Health Australia cover story. It’s almost like putting the Disney costume on before you step up on stage and underneath the Disney costume I was pissed 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. We had an absolute blast, but there were certain parts of it where it just got a little bit toxic.”

Payne told the outlet that there were “a lot of people in trouble with mental health that aren’t really getting the help that they need,” particularly in the entertainment industry. “It’s the same s--- 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 added: “I really struggle to say no because I don’t like to let people down. It’s in my nature.”

October 2019

“Every day you wake up, you have the opportunity to do whatever the hell you want to do, but you just have to aim for it properly,” Payne said while talking about the importance of self-love in an MTV video interview. “And I think when people get sad or depressed about themselves — as I’ve been so many times — it’s actually more for the fact because you knew you could do something and you haven’t.”

He continued: “This job can be quite self-loathing at some points, that you see so much of yourself all the time, that you have to be careful that everything doesn’t start to center around you, which has always been my biggest fear with any of this, really, because I hate that. I hate the thought, like, you’re always looking and evaluating absolutely everything about yourself, and it’s horrible.”

Payne went on to state that the “most important part of self-love is being able to talk about things to other people,” adding, “The best gift you can give yourself is to figure out that you’re not insane so that you know that you’re on the right track. Literally, it sounds so stupid, but it’s so true. I think it’s really important, you know, with mental health at the moment, we have such a thing around it because we’re starting to figure out that, actually, that needs as much taking care of as [our body does].”

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November 2019

Payne compared fame to having “a weird midlife crisis” in an interview on Straight Talk with Ant Middleton, per multiple outlets. “There’s times where that level of loneliness and people getting into you every day every so often … that’s almost nearly killed me a couple of times.”

He told Middleton that he had been in a “bad place” several times during his life, but had “great people around me” to help him through tough times. “When things start to pile up on you, it can get you, and you can only control you.”

January 2021

During an Instagram Live chat with fans, Payne confessed he was “struggling” amid the COVID-19 pandemic. However, one of his former band members was lending a helping hand.

“I was actually just on the phone to Louis, who I haven’t spoken to in a minute, which was quite nice,” he shared before adding, “Louis has definitely been there for me over the past couple of weeks, which I’ve got to say thank you and … give him his due.”

April 2021

Speaking out again about the COVID-19 pandemic, Payne told Glamour: “It was all a bit dark for me for a little bit and I'm sure many people experienced it. Just not being able to go anywhere, not be able to do anything. It really, really hit home. And I just found myself sat in the same place day in, day out. And I was like, ‘OK, I really do not know what to do with myself.’”

He told the outlet that his mental health was an “ongoing experience” and that “learning to relax” had been a hard thing for him to learn to do. “I feel like if I'm not moving forward, then I must be going backwards. And I think that's something that I've always struggled with,” he explained. “So, in a way [quarantine’s] kind of a blessing in disguise, as this has all kind of taught me to relax a little bit more. And to not be so worried about that, like the world is not going to fall over if I don't do something today.”

Payne said he “would have struggled a hell of a lot more” if not for his friends, including one of his managers. “We literally talk about everything. We're probably too honest with each other!” he quipped. “But I think it's important that everybody has that person.”

June 2021

During an interview on Steven Bartlett’s “Diary of a CEO” podcast, Payne revealed that he struggled with substance abuse and “suicidal ideation” during his time in One Direction.

“I was worried how far my rock bottom was going to be. Where’s rock bottom for me?” he shared. “And you would never have seen it. I’m very good at hiding it. No one would ever have seen it.”

Noting that his struggles were “really severe,” the singer said his change in physical appearance motivated him to make a change. “My face was just, like, 10 times more than it is now. I just didn’t like myself very much, and then I made a change,” he stated.

At the time, Payne — who was one month sober — said he had recently gotten a sweet phone call from Styles. “He was checking in on me,” he said. “It’s almost as if some people have got a sixth sense about when you’re going through something and want to check in.”

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July 2023

After taking a hiatus from social media, Payne revealed via YouTube that he had attended a 100-day program and was six months sober. He credited his ex Cheryl Cole and their son, Bear, for helping him to get a “grip on life.”

“More than anything, I want to say thank you to [Bear] and his mum [Cheryl] for giving me a little bit of freedom to go and get well in that moment because I had to,” he said at the time. “There’s no point trying to be a dad when you’ve got nothing to teach and I don’t think up until this point I really had much to say to him other than just caring for him very deeply and loving him deeply, which is obviously the most important thing.”

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).