Louis Tomlinson just revealed that it was his former One Direction pal, Niall Horan, that broke the tragic news of Liam Payne’s passing.
The 33-year-old said that Payne had been pushing the band for a reunion, which also included Harry Styles and Zayn Malik.
Speaking to host Steven Bartlett on The Diary Of A CEO podcast, Tomlinson said he was in Los Angeles when he first heard of his friend’s death.
“In the car, in LA. I found out through Niall,” he said.
He told the host of the podcast that the news evoked a similar reaction in him when his sister, Felicite, died of an accidental drug overdose in 2019.
“I had the same feeling that I had with Felicite, and I think anyone has this when they’re around someone who’s struggling; my 150 per cent wasn’t nearly enough,” Tomlinson confessed.
He continued, “And that’s when it’s my own arrogance thinking that I could have helped really, because it was so much deeper than what I could have done for him. He was definitely struggling at that time in his life.”
At the time of Payne’s demise, Tomlinson shared an Instagram tribute, in which he said he was “beyond devastated” to have “lost a brother.”
“When I put up my post about him, I really wanted him to be remembered the way that he should be remembered,” Tomlinson told Bartlett.
“I could just go on and talk all day about how amazing he was, but I think we all looked up to him,” the singer added.
It is pertinent to mention that Liam Payne died on October 16, 2024, by falling off a third-floor balcony from his hotel, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a post-mortem examination report stating “internal and external haemorrhage” as cause of death.
