Some people are circulating an old photo of Liam Payne standing on a balcony from several years ago. According to Page Six, the pic was taken in 2014. Payne could be seen standing on a ledge of his 34-floor East London apartment building.
Per Page Six, the picture was posted on Zayn Malik‘s 21st birthday. A friend of Payne’s posted the snap online but promptly deleted it. Nonetheless, many fans who saw the picture became concerned, so much so that Payne issued a statement about it.
“You may have seen a photo of me today taken on top of a building. I regret being there and having a photo taken,” he wrote on Twitter (now X).
Payne has struggled with mental health and previously opened up about his drug and alcohol use about four years ago.
“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,” Payne said on the “Diary of a CEO” podcast. “There is some stuff that I have definitely never, never spoken about. It was really, really, really severe. It was a problem. And it was only until I saw myself after that I was like, ‘Right, I need to fix myself,'” he added.
Payne was found dead on October 16. He was 31 years old.
Fans Are Reacting to the Resurfaced Photo
Some longtime One Direction fans recalled the old photo as soon as they heard the news of Payne’s death. Many reacted on X.
“IDK all of this stuff about liam payne dying from a fall at height just reminds me of this photo when he was also having mental health problems,” a fan captioned the photo on X.
“Immediately what I thought of and sobbed more,” someone else said.
“This was like 2016-17 I think. He talked about the picture a few years ago cause fans always worried about it. It was nothing just him and friend thought it would look cool and Batman like and laughed when it didn’t,” a third comment read.
“It was also during a time of his addiction struggles I’m 99% sure. He’s been claimed to frequently say he ‘won’t be around much longer’ to people. Just super difficult remembering this photo as a long time fan because of what could’ve also happened that night,” another fan added.
Liam Payne Died After Jumping From a Balcony in Argentina
Flash forward 10 years after that photo of Payne was posted and One Direction fans are mourning his death. On October 16, TMZ reported that Payne had fallen from his hotel balcony on the third floor of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Argentina.
Following the report, local authorities confirmed to People magazine that Payne “”jumped from the balcony” around 5 p.m. local time.
Buenos Aires emergency services chief Alberto Crescenti told La Nación that Payne suffered “serious injuries.”
“Our role was to head there quickly, give medical attention, and try to resuscitate him, but his injuries were incompatible with life. Based on what the team saw, there was apparently a cranial fracture and extremely serious injuries that led to his immediate death,” Crescenti told the outlet, as translated by Google.
“The team could do absolutely nothing. There was no resuscitation because it was confirmed that he had died,” he added.
An investigation is underway. An autopsy and toxicology report are still pending.
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Eerie Photo of Liam Payne on Ledge Resurfaces