Liam Payne’s death last October was tragic in more ways than one. Not only was he 31 years old, and the father of a seven-year-old boy, but the former One Direction singer was facing legal issues which have been made all the more complex and upsetting to resolve in the wake of his death.
A week before he died by falling from the balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires, Payne’s ex-fiancé Maya Henry posted a TikTok alleging that he had been harassing her, her family and her friends. A few days later, her lawyer sent him a cease-and-desist order demanding that he stop harassing her.
The gravitas of his death weighs heavy on Henry, who is now tasked with grieving someone she once loved who also allegedly caused her years of distress. Reflecting on their relationship in an exclusive interview with Rolling Stone, Henry said, 'I put myself in situations that were unsafe and harmful, ignoring every red flag.'
She alleged that Payne struggled with addiction issues throughout their relationship and claims he was 'unrecognisable' when he was on drugs and alcohol. 'I kept hoping each incident would be a wake-up call for him to get help,' her statement reads, 'but it never was.'
Henry admitted that she let herself believe that 'love could be stronger than addiction', but ultimately the toll of the relationship was causing her too much harm. When the singer allegedly took cocaine in front of her mother and grandmother, she broke up with him.
It is no secret that Henry was negatively impacted by her relationship with Payne, who she was with from August 2019 to May 2022. The couple were also engaged. In May 2024, she published a fictionalised account of their time together, called Looking Forward.
In the novel, Henry wrote about an abusive relationship between a model named Mallory and a singer called Oliver Smith, a former member of the boyband 5Forward. During their relationship, Oliver takes cocaine, MDMA and pills, sexts other women and threatens suicide if Mallory were to break up with him. At one point, he is physically abusive towards her, shoving her and chasing her with an axe. At another, Oliver gives Mallory an ultimatum after finding out that she was pregnant, and she ultimately decides to get an abortion.
A source told Rolling Stone that these moments are based on real life events.
When Payne died, Henry received a torrent of abuse from his fans on social media suggesting that she was responsible because of the recent legal action she had taken. 'What hurts the most is that even after his death, I'm left with the aftermath of his actions that continue to unfold,' she told the magazine.
The cause of Payne's death has since been confirmed as polytrauma – a term for multiple traumatic injuries which have been sustained to a person's body and organs systems. However, the investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death is still ongoing.
The hotel's manager, Gilda Martin, and its receptionist, Esteban Grassi, as well as Payne's friend Roger Nores have been charged with manslaughter, Argentina's prosecutor's office says. Another hotel staff member, Ezequiel Pereyra, and Braian Paiz, a waiter, have been charged with supplying drugs. It has been confirmed that Payne had been under the influence of drugs at the time of his death.
'I'm faced with the complexity of grieving someone I cared so deeply about despite the pain they have caused me,' Henry added. Her interview is perhaps a reminder that it is easy to venerate people after their death, often forgetting that, as complex and thorny as their relationship might have been, she is grieving too.