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‘BRILLIANT, LOST, DAMAGED’: INSIDE THE TRAGEDY OF LIAM PAYNE

One Direction brought him to the height of stardom, but friends say years of hidden struggles and addictions led the pop star down a dark path. A Rolling Stone investigation

By KORY GROW, JON BLISTEIN

With additional reporting by Tomás Mier

I

t could have been a party. At around two in the afternoon on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, Doug Jones was making business calls from his room in Buenos Aires’ upscale CasaSur Palermo Hotel when clanging, banging, and whooping sounds erupted across the hall. “I heard some really bizarre noises, like yelling, and it sounded like someone was partying,” he says. Jones, a 36-year-old Texan in town for his friend Bret Watson’s destination wedding, eventually left the room. When he returned a few hours later, it seemed like his neighbor’s door wouldn’t stop slamming. “It sounded like people were coming and going nonstop,” Jones says. “It was happening every few minutes.” At one point, someone even tried opening Jones’ door until he yelled at them. But the ruckus continued. “[The shouting] just sounded manic, almost insane,” he says. “I heard the loudest one around five, and then I started hearing all the sirens.”

Several hours later, Jones learned the name of room 310’s occupant when a friend told him the guest had died. “I hate to say it, I’d never heard of Liam Payne,” Jones says. “But I looked him up, and I was like, ‘Oh, wow. This is not just anybody.’ ”

Payne was the handsome and charming pop sensation who melted England’s hearts on The X Factor as a teen in 2010. The judges selected him to be a member of One Direction, which formed that year on the show and became the biggest boy band since ’NSync and the Backstreet Boys. Payne sang the tender opening lines of the group’s breakout single, “What Makes You Beautiful,” and co-wrote hits like “Story of My Life,” “Midnight Memories,” and “Steal My Girl.” His 2017 solo track “Strip That Down” was certified triple platinum. Jones’ neighbor at CasaSur was a part of pop history, but at the time, he’d just seemed like a nuisance.

The singer had been staying at CasaSur since Oct. 13. Two days later, Jones was with Watson when the groom tried to check into room 310, a spacious suite with a balcony offering views of verdant Buenos Aires, which he’d booked six months earlier for his parents. But Watson, 34, says the front desk informed him that the room wasn’t available because there was another guest “they couldn’t get to check out.”

Watson was also largely unfamiliar with One Direction but had heard gossip from his friends about a celebrity guest behaving strangely. One friend told him Payne seemed desperate to be recognized. Another hotel guest who gave her name to the Daily Mail pseudonymously as Rebecca recalled Payne acting erratically and shouting, “I’m Liam. I used to be in a boy band. That’s why I’m so fucked up.”

“He was aggressive and loud,” a person who was in the lobby and requested anonymity says. “He had a frantic vibe.… It seemed like he was in a bad mental state.”

Watson says he saw Payne on the day of his death at around 4:30 p.m. lounging on a couch in the lobby until something on his laptop infuriated him. “Fuck this,” he yelled. He muttered incoherently and threw the computer on the floor. “The hotel staff got involved,” Watson says. “A number of people were able to escort him out of the lobby.” Watson says the staff appeared to take Payne back to his room to “prevent him from coming back down or causing any more scenes.” (Hotel management did not respond to requests for comment.)

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