One Direction was formed from a group of contestants on the reality television series The X-Factor. Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, and Liam Payne comprised the group. The boys were signed by Simon Cowell and soon took the world by storm. They had a level of worldwide adulation and fandom a boy band had not experienced in a long time. They released hit albums and went on massive tours until taking an indefinite hiatus in 2016.
Fans of the band were shocked on October 16, 2024, when news broke that Liam had died at the age of 31. He fell off the third floor balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The exact cause of the fall is not yet known, although many have been speculating. Tributes came pouring in from fellow celebrities and fans.
Liam’s former bandmates have also been paying tribute, including Zayn. Zayn and Liam haven’t always had the smoothest relationship, but Zayn expressed love for Liam in the wake of his passing. Zayn also decided to postpone his upcoming tour due to the loss of the man he calls his “brother.”
Zayn Postponed His Tour And Shared A Tribute To Liam In The Wake Of His Death
On October 19, Zayn posted an update to his Instagram story informing fans that his tour would be postponed in light of Liam’s death.
“Given the heartbreaking loss experienced this week, I’ve made the decision to postpone the US leg of the STAIRWAY TO THE SKY Tour,”
he wrote
.
However, Zayn was quick to reassure fans that the shows would be rescheduled for next year. “The dates are being rescheduled for January and I’ll post them as soon as it’s all set in the next few days. Your tickets will remain valid for the new dates,” he wrote.
Zayn ended his message by thanking the fans for being understanding during what is no doubt a very difficult time. “Love you all and thank you for your understanding,” he concluded.
What remains up in the air, however, are the overseas dates. These include 11 shows that are set to begin November 20th. At the moment, it’s unclear if the shows will go on as planned or if they will also be postponed soon.
Following Liam’s passing, Zayn posted a tribute to his former bandmate on Instagram. He posted a photo of the two riding in a car together. In the photo, the two are taking a nap while Liam has his arm wrapped around Zayn, who is seen resting his head on Liam’s lap.
“Liam, I have found myself talking out loud to you, hoping you can hear me, I can’t help but think selfishly that there was so many more conversations for us to have in our lives,” Zayn wrote. “I never got to thank you for supporting me through some of the most difficult times in my life.”
Zayn wrote about being in One Direction when he was a teenager and mentioned that he could always lean on Liam when feeling homesick. He wrote that he could count on Liam to “always be there with a positive outlook and reassuring smile and let me know you were my friend and that I was loved.”
He also mentioned some early memories of their time together, even noting that sometimes they didn’t always get along.
“Even though you were younger than me you were always more sensible than me, you were headstrong, opinionated, and gave no f**** about telling people when they were wrong. Even though we butted heads because of this a few times,” Zayn wrote along with a crying-laughing emoji. “I always secretly respected you for it.”
Zayn also praised Liam and said he was very talented, writing that he was “the most qualified in every sense.” “I knew nothing in comparison, I was a novice child with no experience and you were already a professional. I was always happy to know, no matter what happened on stage we could always rely on you to know which was to steer the ship next,” he wrote.
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Toward the end of his message, Zayn referred to Liam as his “brother” when writing about mourning his death. “I lost a brother when you left us and can’t explain to you what I’d give to just give you a hug one last time and say goodbye to you properly and tell you that I loved and respected you dearly. I will cherish all the memories I have with you in my heart forever, there is no words that justify or explain how I feel right now other than beyond devastated,” Zayn wrote. “I hope that wherever you are right now you are good and are at peace and know how loved you are.”
Zayn concluded by writing, “Love you bro,” which he also wrote in the caption.
In 2022, Liam appeared on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast and received backlash for his comments on Zayn. Liam jokingly referred to Zayn as “Wayne Malik” and Logan began telling a story of his brother Jake’s run-in with the former One Direction member.
According to Logan, the two had a run-in over what Jake thought was a disrespectful interaction. This came after a tweet from Jake, where Zayn was “screaming in his hotel room because the rooms were right next to each other.” Logan was convinced that Jake and Zayn were about to physically fight, when Zayn’s then-girlfriend Gigi Hadid got involved and bashed Jake in a tweet.
“She said, ‘Get yourself a respectful man or something’ … yeah, that one didn’t age very well,” Liam said about the former couple, laughing. Liam then began saying there are “many reasons” why he disliked Zayn, but also “many reasons” why he’ll “always, always” be on his side.
“If I had had to go through what he went through … through his growth and whatever else … my parents are overly supportive to the point where it’s annoying at times … and Zayn had a different upbringing in that sense,” Liam said. “You can always look at the man for where he is and say, ‘Oh yeah, whatever that guy’s a d***, right?’ But at the end of the day once you understand what he’s been through to get to that point and also whether or not he actually wanted to be there … I can’t sit here and d*** on him because of whatever and listen, I don’t agree with any of his actions. I can’t commend some of the things that he’s done. I can’t be on his side for that.”
While Liam wasn’t specific about which of Zayn’s actions he was referring to, he did say that he understood and hoped that “at some point in their life the person on the other end of the phone wants to receive the help that you’re willing to give them.”
This angered a lot of One Direction fans, who criticized Liam for throwing Zayn under the bus. Liam decided to clear things up on Twitter following the release of the episode. He wrote in part, “Guys – I wouldn’t normally comment on this stuff but when it’s your family it’s hard to let it slide.”
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He continued, “They mentioned a specific incident involving Zayn which I responded to – but listening back maybe I didn’t articulate myself as well as I could have. I was saying that there will always be things we disagree on but that I will always, always be on his side. That’s family. Zayn is my brother and I will stand by him forever.”
Zayn’s Sister Urged People To Be Kind Following Liam’s Death
Zayn’s sister Doniya shared a video of Liam on her Instagram story following his death. In the clip, Liam talks about his struggles with addiction and his mental health. Part of the footage comes from a 2021 episode of the Diary of a CEO podcast.
“I was worried how far my rock bottom was going to be,”
Liam said
. “And you would never have seen it. I’m very good at hiding it. No one would have ever seen it.”
Liam said that his alcohol addiction began prior to One Direction going on an indefinite hiatus in 2016. He further elaborated to host Steven Bartlett about how this issue took a hold of him.
“The problem we had in the band—and I don’t blame anybody for this, I don’t want to seem like I’m whining or moaning, ‘Oh my god, look at my life,’ whatever—but it feels to me like when we were in the band, the best way to secure us because of how big it got was just lock us in our rooms,” he explained. “And, of course, what’s in the room? Minibar.”
Doniya also shared a video from the 2019 special Ant Middleton And Liam Payne: Straight Talking. In the clip, Liam opens up about his battle with his mental health.
“There’s times where that level of loneliness and people getting into you every day,” he shared. “Every so often, you’re like, when will this end? For some certain circumstances, I’m quite lucky to be here still.”
Another clip was taken from a video Liam posted on his Instagram story following a 100-day stay at a treatment facility. In the footage, Liam shared that he was diagnosed with “a couple of conditions.”
“There’s a lot of manic things in my life,” Liam told fans. “But the other side of it is, and that kind of feels like when I would lose my sobriety, would be in these moments that were super low, and I felt like that today. Since isolating the two things and seeing them separately, and I know what they are now and I can identify them.”
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He continued, “Luckily, I’ve got some amazing people around me that look after me, but I’m sure they can see it in me too, that I’m not really here.”
Doniya captioned her post by writing, “And this should be a reminder to always be kind. You never know what a person is truly going through. Always think before you write cruel comments online.”
The X Factor UK is a reality competition created by Simon Cowell. It first aired in 2004, and the talent competition has served as a platform for some of the world’s biggest stars, including One Direction, James Arthur, Little Mix, and Leona Lewis.