Liam Payne has opened up about his mental health struggles and battle with sobriety in a brand new podcast interview. In it, he details that his struggles began at 16, when he first joined One Direction on The X Factor.
Liam joined The Diary of a CEO podcast with Stephen Bartlett on Sunday to discuss a whole smorgasbord of topics from his recent split from Maya Henry to his son Bear and his relationship with the One Direction boys.
However, towards the end of the podcast, Liam opened up about darker parts of his life such as alcoholism and being “lucky to be here” after hitting “rock bottom”.
“Yeah. There is some stuff that I have definitely never, never spoken about,” Liam said.
“It was really, really, really severe. And it was a problem. And it was only until I saw myself after that, I was like ‘Right, I need to fix myself.’”
He also opened up about seeing pictures of himself, including one of him on a boat, that confronted him with the reality of his addictions.
“I was all bloated out… I call it my pills-and-booze face. My face was just like 10 times more than it is now. I just didn’t like myself very much and then I made a change,” he continued.
You can watch the full hour and a half interview right here, if you have the time. (It’s Liam, of course you do.)
Liam also spoke about the fact that at a young age, being stuck in hotel rooms while on tour lead him to drinking alone.
“The problem was… the best way to secure us, because of how big it got, was to lock us in a room. And, of course, what is in the room? A minibar,” he said.
“At a certain point, I just thought, ‘Well, I’m going to have a party for one,’ and that just seemed to carry on throughout many years of my life.”
Now a month sober, he also revealed that he received a lovely call from Harry Styles.
“I had a lovely phone call from Harry the other day. He was checking in on me. It’s almost as if some people have got a sixth sense about when you’re going through something and want to check-in,” Liam said.
“He’s very much like that. He’s a lovely, lovely boy. I love him to pieces.”
Harry Styles supporting Liam Payne? It’s what we absolutely love to see. Here’s to the boys being there for each other in times of need.
If you need mental health support, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or chat online.
Under 25? You can reach Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
You can also reach the Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 or chat online.
If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.
