From struggles with addiction to untimely deaths, the most popular boy band of the 2010s experienced more than their fair share of tragedy during their time in the spotlight — and after.
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00:00From struggles with addiction to untimely deaths, the most popular boy band of the 2010s
00:05experienced more than their fair share of tragedy during their time in the spotlight.
00:09And after.
00:10In early October 2024, former One Direction member Liam Payne arrived in Argentina for
00:14a vacation. He captioned a video posted to Snapchat on October 16th,
00:18"'It's a lovely day here in Argentina."
00:21He went on to discuss an itinerary of horseback riding and polo. At the time, Payne was staying
00:25in a third-floor, courtyard-overlooking room at a hotel in Buenos Aires. According to a
00:30recorded phone call released to the media by city officials, a hotel employee called
00:34police out of concern for an extremely agitated guest that would turn out to be Payne. Reuters
00:39quoted the worker,
00:40"'When he is conscious, he is destroying the entire room, and we need you to send someone.'"
00:44The worker also suggested that the balcony presented a threat to the guest's safety.
00:48Responding officers were told that the man in question might be under the influence of
00:51alcohol or drugs. And when they arrived at the hotel, the manager informed them that
00:55he'd just heard a commotion in the courtyard. That's where the police discovered Payne,
00:59who had evidently fallen off his balcony to the ground three stories below. He was pronounced
01:03dead at the age of 31.
01:05"'Overnight, dozens of One Direction fans gathered in memoriam outside the hotel to
01:10light candles and sing songs.'"
01:12Though we're still learning about the specific circumstances surrounding Payne's untimely
01:16death, it's possible that his past struggles with addiction may have contributed to it.
01:21In an appearance on the Diary of a CEO podcast a few years back, Payne described an era of
01:25his life where he was stricken with what he referred to as a pills-and-booze phase.
01:29"'I was like this, like my face was just like ten times more than it is now.'"
01:33His consumption of alcohol and prescription drugs grew out of hand, and ultimately led
01:37to thoughts of suicide. He went on to say that, though he doesn't want to blame anyone
01:41for his problems, his bad habits were pretty easy to fall into. He explained,
01:45"'When we were in the band, the best way to secure us because of how big it got was just
01:49lock us in our rooms. And of course, what's in the room? Minibar.'"
01:53Drinking so much alcohol took a serious toll on Payne's kidney. Most people have two, but
01:57the singer only had one that worked due to a complication of his premature birth. Miraculously,
02:02the problem corrected itself sometime around 2012, but that wasn't the end of his problems.
02:07In August 2023, Payne felt so ill that he checked himself into a hospital, where he
02:11learned that he was suffering from an infection of a kidney. It was days before Payne's scheduled
02:15tour of South America, a jaunt he then had to call off. He announced on his social media
02:19pages,
02:20"'Over the past week, I've been in hospital with a serious kidney infection. It's something
02:23I wouldn't wish on anyone, and doctor's orders are that I now need to rest and recover.'"
02:28Since the X Factor and One Direction made him into a world-famous superstar in 2010,
02:32Harry Styles has been romantically linked to many famous women, including Taylor Swift
02:36and Olivia Wilde.
02:38Styles' first celebrity relationship came in 2011 when he dated Caroline Flack. A presenter
02:42on The X Factor spin-off The Extra Factor, it was a relationship defined by a controversial
02:47age gap, and was even considered illegal in many jurisdictions. Flack was 31, while Styles
02:52was only 17 when they began dating. Flack told The Sun on Sunday,
02:56"'We were both single, we got on well, and we had a laugh. It was only when it became
02:59public knowledge that things turned sour.'"
03:02Shortly after Flack endured heckles on the street accusing her of being a sex offender,
03:06the relationship ended. In 2020, before facing a courtroom trial over assault charges, Flack
03:10died by suicide. She was 40 years old. In lieu of a statement, Styles performed at the
03:15BRIT Awards while wearing a black ribbon and a button featuring Flack's quotation, "'Treat
03:20people with kindness.'"
03:21In March 2015, Zayn Malik became the first member of One Direction to leave the band.
03:26"'Zayn is walking away at the height of fame. The band is worth $75 million and counting.'"
03:32His sudden departure from a tour of Asia was the first public suggestion that the singer
03:36was dealing with some significant mental health issues. The band's spokesperson said on Twitlonger,
03:41"'Zayn has signed off with stress and is flying back to the UK to recuperate.'"
03:45Following the split of One Direction, Malik quickly embarked on a solo career, and in
03:49June 2016, he canceled his scheduled slot on the Capital Summertime Ball in London.
03:53He wrote on X,
03:54"'Unfortunately, my anxiety that has haunted me throughout the last few months around live
03:58performances has gotten the better of me. With the magnitude of the event, I have suffered
04:01the worst anxiety of my career.'"
04:04After privately exercising self-care, Malik found some peace. He told The Sunday Times
04:08in 2017,
04:09"'I now have no problem with anxiety. It was something I was dealing with in the band.'"
04:13Later in the interview, the singer also shared that he coped with an eating disorder during
04:17his time in One Direction. He confessed,
04:19"'Every area of my life was so regimented and controlled, it was the one area where
04:22I could say, no, I'm not eating that. Once I got over the control, the eating just came
04:26back into place.'"
04:28One Direction member Louis Tomlinson was raised in Doncaster, England, by his stepfather Mark
04:32Tomlinson and his mother, Johanna Deacon, who worked as a midwife. They divorced in
04:372011, and in early 2016, doctors diagnosed Deacon with a particularly serious variant
04:42of leukemia. Deacon died in December 2016 at the age of 43.
04:47According to People, one of her final requests was for Tomlinson to proceed with a planned
04:51spot on The X Factor scheduled to take place just days after Deacon's death. Tomlinson
04:55grew up in a blended family of seven siblings and half-siblings, and less than three years
04:59after his mother died, one of his younger sisters died, too.
05:03In March 2019, Felicity Tomlinson was discovered in her London apartment. Not responsive, she
05:08died soon thereafter of what authorities initially ruled as a heart attack. A coroner's investigation
05:13conducted later in 2019 determined that the younger Tomlinson died from a fatal, excessive
05:18mixture of prescription anxiety medication, painkillers, and cocaine. She was 18 years
05:23old.