Transcript of Closer examination of the life and death of Liam Payne

A lovely day here in Argentina. A vacation in paradise, a pop star seemingly living the high life. Liam Payne, Snapchatting, his girlfriend, TikToking as they party their way through Argentina. These idyllic days quickly turning to unimaginable tragedy. It's okay. What mind is yours? He's not dead. His passing devastating fans worldwide. It's literally so heartbreaking, and my heart goes out to his friends and family in this time of loss. I feel sick. I want this to not be real so bad because everything in my life goes back to them. It seems to me that when I die, these words will be written on my stone. The story of his life, now the soundtrack of their grief. We can live forever. His death calling into question, what is the price of Fame? And how did such a beloved and talented star's life end in such a heartbreaking way? We are The One Direction. For One Direction, Fame came fast and furious. This is so nice. We can't believe how many people showed up in the cold for us. Oh, come on, Liam. So good. Thank you. Their debut album went multi-platinum, starting with their mega hit lead single with Liam out front in What makes You Beautiful.

You don't know your All these gorgeous guys with these beautiful voices pointing at you and saying, You don't know you're beautiful. Oh, my gosh. That was made in the devil's workshop. That was in a escapable pop magic. They're causing the screaming that we haven't seen since the Beatles. The most popular band on the planet, One Direction. But here they come right now. But Fame is a double-edged sword. And even as the group sat on top of the world, Liam reflected on how often he felt isolated on the Diary of a CEO podcast. 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. And of course, what's in the room? Minibar. So at a certain I thought, Well, I'm going to have a party for one. And that just seemed to carry on throughout many years of my life. One Direction shot to stardom after the boys were brought together on the British Reality Show competition, The X Factor. I love the way you gelled us, friend. I think you're the next big boy band.

After just five years of unprecedented global success with back-to-back hit records and sold-out tours, the band's breakup was sudden and shocking after Zane announced he was leaving in 2015. So I literally wake up and Zane is leaving. It's tight. It's tight. Not long after, the rest of the guys revealed they would be going on hiatus. One Direction was made up of a group of individual singers who were told to work together by guys on a British reality show. None of them wanted to be in One Direction, right? They all wanted to be solo artists. It was inherently a band that was going to break up immediately as soon as anybody in the group had exit velocity. Zane, Niall, and Louis hit the ground running with major solo hits, but Harry styles would become the supernova of the group. From the concert stage, with hits like Watermelon Sugar. Watermelon Sugar. To the Silver Screen in films like Don't Worry, Darling. What if-Stop it! I'm part of something important, Alice. Liam's albums did not do as well as the others. Liam had been writing with other bands and artists for years. His first solo single in 2017 was co-written with Ed Sheeran.

You know I love it when the music starts, but come and strip that down for me, baby. Strip That Down made it to the top 10 on billboard. But his first album, LP1, didn't come out until late 2019 to mixed reviews. In the months before his death, Liam was still reported he's currently working on his second solo album, even as he made that final trip to Argentina with girlfriend Kate Cassidy. On his Snapchat, Liam talked about wanting to meet up with his former bandmate Niall Horen, who was performing a concert. And I think we might just go and say, Hello. It's been a while since me and Niall have spoken. We've got a lot to talk about, and I would like to square up a couple of things with the boy. No bad vibes or anything like that, but just we need to talk. The next day at the concert, fans captured video of Liam in the crowd, some saying the singer was acting erradically. The two did meet up after the show in this photo from Liam's Snapchat with the caption Reunited. People were looking at it through different lenses, and now if you're looking at it from what we know now, a lot of it, there's something that's concerning.

I a glass of champagne. Then on October 14th, Kate posted about her return to Florida on TikTok, while Liam stayed behind in Argentina at the hotel Casa Sur Palermo. Loved South America, but I hate staying in one place for too long. Two days later, on October 16th, guests reported the star was acting out in the hotel lobby earlier that day. There was an incident where he was very frustrated and was smashing his laptop in the lobby. And then the final time he came back down, he actually passed out in the lobby at the hotel. At some point, he made it back to his room. Then around 05:00 PM, local time, the hotel manager called 911. Within minutes before emergency personnel could even get there, the 31-year-old star falling from his third floor balcony, more than 40 feet to the ground. Liam died at the scene. It's just a tragedy. It just should not have happened. A lot more life to lead. The state police say testing confirms at the time of his death, Liam had multiple drugs in his system, including the party drug known as pink cocaine, often a mixture of ketamine and other drugs like ecstasy and meth.

He also had cocaine, benzodiazapine, and crack. They also found an improvised aluminum pipe in the room. Police are trying to track down the source of those drugs. Investigators say it appears the singer jumped from his balcony. They're investigating whether it was intentional. Over the years, Liam struggled with alcoholism. One of the reasons why individuals who catapult to Fame might appear to be at greater risk for addiction is just because of the fact that there's so much stress and scrutiny. They need some outlet or escape. It all came to a head in 2022, during an appearance on Logan Paul's podcast, where Liam aird some dirty laundry about his former bandmates. I think it was well known within the band that I don't like taking at a certain point. I made it very obvious. I'm not going to tell you how. And there was one moment where there was an argument backstage, and one member in particular threw me off a wall. So I said to him, If you don't remove those hands, there's a high likelihood you'll never use them again. Liam apologized for his remarks. I was so angry at what was going on around me.

And instead of taking a look inwards, I decided to look outwards at everybody else. And I just think, Yeah, I just took it out on everybody else, which is just wrong, really. And decided to take time off to seek help. Liam shared that he was focusing on parenting his son, Bear, who he shared with Sheryl Cole and his music. In early 2024, he released a new single, Teardrops. The shockwaves from the news of the 31-year-old's death felt around the world. Liam's dad had to fly to Argentina to claim his son's body. His former bandmates posting a joint statement saying, We're completely devastated by the news of Liam's passing. We will miss him terribly. We love you, Liam. Part of the fan's collective grief that with Liam's death, the possibility of a one-direction reunion now gone. It was a hope that even Liam himself seemed to have one day. I miss being with the boys. That was so much fun. Sure. We loved the boys. But I'm sure there's time for that to come back around. My thing is, the more success we have on our own, the more success we're going to have together in the future.

Our thanks to Juju. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text the National Lifeline at 988. For more on this story, watch Impact by Nightline, One Direction's Liam Payne's Final Days, now streaming on Hulu.