Speaker 1: Before we get into the episode, we want to issue
Speaker 1: a trigger warning. We touch on themes around suicide and
Speaker 1: drug use. Hello, and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose
Speaker 1: of the hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week.
Speaker 1: I'm Sophie Torbah, I'm.
Speaker 2: Amy Shauber, and I'm Kate Torba.
Speaker 1: It is so exciting to finally be back after maternity leave.
Speaker 2: It's been eighteen weeks.
Speaker 1: It's good to have you back, and it feels very
Speaker 1: nostalgic because we have decided to move back to the
Speaker 1: original OG room, which we recorded in before you went
Speaker 1: on maternity leave. Yeah, you guys were all over the place.
Speaker 1: I used to watch the videos on Instagram and be like,
Speaker 1: what room are they recording in? At the moment, it
Speaker 1: is weird to be back. I didn't think I would
Speaker 1: be away for so long because I had this vision
Speaker 1: in my head that it would be really easy to
Speaker 1: bring a newborn baby around with me to recordings and stuff,
Speaker 1: and I quickly learned that no, it wasn't. And I
Speaker 1: definitely don't think that you expected this to be the
Speaker 1: episode to be returning on because news broke last week
Speaker 1: of the sudden passing of former One Direction singer Liam Payne.
Speaker 1: We quickly decided that we wanted to investigate this very
Speaker 1: laid and devastating story. We would consider ourselves One Direction fans.
Speaker 1: We went to their concert in Adelaide. It was incredible,
Speaker 1: but I wouldn't say we were part of the fandom.
Speaker 1: We didn't have Twitter accounts, so I think we were
Speaker 1: too old to be part of the fandom. I definitely
Speaker 1: think if I was a teenager at the time, I
Speaker 1: could see myself getting involved very heavily on all of
Speaker 1: the Twitter action and also even taking part in writing
Speaker 1: the different fiction book.
Speaker 2: You would not have written fan fiction, surely.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I mean I love writing.
Speaker 1: As a teenager, I could see myself, particularly if I
Speaker 1: lived in the UK, being swept up in that. And
Speaker 1: I think that's why there are so many complex feelings
Speaker 1: around Liam's death, because for so many people he represented
Speaker 1: such a magical part of their teenage years. But some
Speaker 1: people just can't move past the recent allegations made by
Speaker 1: his ex fiance, Maya Henry. Yeah, because a week before
Speaker 1: the fatal fall issued Liam with a cease and desist letter,
Speaker 1: and she also appeared on a podcast detailing the alleged
Speaker 1: abuse that she suffered at the.
Speaker 2: Hands of Liam.
Speaker 1: We are going to be touching on that later in
Speaker 1: today's episode. But I think that this just adds to
Speaker 1: the complexity around fans feelings. You kind of don't know
Speaker 1: what to feel at the moment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and TikTok.
Speaker 1: Is a very divisive place at the best of times,
Speaker 1: but particularly for one direction fans at the moment, because
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, guys, but my for you
Speaker 1: page has just been all about Liam. I'm having his girlfriend,
Speaker 1: Kate Cassidy's TikTok's popping up everywhere right look, and there
Speaker 1: are a lot of one direction fans sharing their grief
Speaker 1: and how they're mourning. And the comment section is just
Speaker 1: so brutal because there are the people that are saying, oh,
Speaker 1: he's a horrible person because of these allegations, and then
Speaker 1: there are other people who are idolizing him even more
Speaker 1: now that he's past. And this story has been moving
Speaker 1: so quickly over the weekend, and with the way that
Speaker 1: the social media algorithm works, not everyone is getting the
Speaker 1: full picture. There's been in so much speculation and a
Speaker 1: lot of conspiracy theories, which is why we want to
Speaker 1: discuss the news that has come to light since his
Speaker 1: death in a very nuanced way.
Speaker 2: So let's get into it from the start.
Speaker 1: So, as we know, on October sixteenth, Liam Payne tragically
Speaker 1: died after falling from the third floor of his hotel
Speaker 1: balcony in Buenos Aires. Now, in the hours prior to
Speaker 1: his death, Liam was said to be acting erratically in
Speaker 1: the hotel lobby and appeared to be under the influence
Speaker 1: of drugs and alcohol. Witnesses say he was seen arguing
Speaker 1: with a woman about money, and he also smashed his laptop.
Speaker 1: An American guest spoke to the media about his encounter
Speaker 1: with Liam that day, saying this.
Speaker 3: We had multiple encounters with Liam. Multiple times had come
Speaker 3: down to the lobby, was causing a servance, got being
Speaker 3: escorted back up to his room. There is an incident
Speaker 3: where he was smashing his laptop in the lobby, and
Speaker 3: then the final time he came back down, he actually
Speaker 3: passed out in the lobby the hotel started convulsing a
Speaker 3: little bit and had to be physically taken back up
Speaker 3: to his room. And that was about five minutes before
Speaker 3: the eventual incident.
Speaker 1: Now, as you heard there, hotel staff physically escorted Liam
Speaker 1: back to the suite he was staying in, leaving him
Speaker 1: alone in the room, which had a balcony overlooking in
Speaker 1: internal courtyard and Paul Local police said they received calls
Speaker 1: from hotel staff asking for help with an aggressive man
Speaker 1: who could be under the effects of drugs and alcohol.
Speaker 1: In audio obtained by the media, the hotel worker told
Speaker 1: police when he is conscious, he is destroying the entire
Speaker 1: room and we need you to send someone. They added
Speaker 1: that the guest life was at risk because his room
Speaker 1: had a balcony. Now when police arrived, Liam had already
Speaker 1: fallen fourteen meters.
Speaker 2: To his death.
Speaker 1: This is just so horrifying and what does not sit
Speaker 1: well with me is why Liam was left alone in
Speaker 1: this hotel room, because it is clear that he was
Speaker 1: severely under the influence of drugs and he was having
Speaker 1: some sort of episode. I just think it's disturbed because,
Speaker 1: as we heard from that witness's account, he was convulsing
Speaker 1: and then collapsed in the lobby, and instead of waiting
Speaker 1: with him and getting him medical care, they physically took
Speaker 1: him back up to his room and then left him
Speaker 1: there by himself. And it is very clear from hearing
Speaker 1: this audio recording that the balcony was a big concern
Speaker 1: of theirs, yet they left him alone. I do wonder
Speaker 1: if there was a patron of the hotel acting in
Speaker 1: this way that wasn't a celebrity, if this is how
Speaker 1: the hotel would have responded, because I really do think
Speaker 1: Liam's fame had something to do with the way they
Speaker 1: managed this crisis. I'm wondering if they didn't want to
Speaker 1: attract any negative attentional media around the way that they
Speaker 1: handled him. I also think it has to do with
Speaker 1: how he obtained the drugs, which we are going to
Speaker 1: talk about later in the episode.
Speaker 2: What adds an.
Speaker 1: Extra layer to this situation is that at the height
Speaker 1: of his fame with One Direction, Liam said he was
Speaker 1: often locked in a hotel room due to the craziness
Speaker 1: that surrounded the band, and in a twenty twenty one
Speaker 1: interview with Steve even Bartlet from The Diary of a CEO,
Speaker 1: Liam said it left him feeling lonely and trapped.
Speaker 2: Let's have a listened to what he said.
Speaker 4: My dad said it from day one. Lonely hotel rooms
Speaker 4: man getting locked in that room is not fun. The
Speaker 4: problem we had in the band, and I don't blame
Speaker 4: anybody for this. I don't want to seem like I'm
Speaker 4: whining or moment, oh my god, look at my life, whatever,
Speaker 4: but it feels to me like when we were in
Speaker 4: the band, the best way to secure us because of
Speaker 4: how big it got was just lock us in our
Speaker 4: rooms and of course what's in the room minibar. So
Speaker 4: at a certain point I thought, well, I'm going to
Speaker 4: have a party for one and that just seemed to
Speaker 4: carry on throughout many years of my life. And then
Speaker 4: you look back, how long you've been drinking and stuff
Speaker 4: for you're like Jesus Christ, that's a long time, even
Speaker 4: for someone who's you know, as long as I was.
Speaker 1: As wild.
Speaker 4: But it was like the only way you could get
Speaker 4: frustration out in the day or being like trapped. And
Speaker 4: you know, I spoke about to somebody about this, and
Speaker 4: in child development, you know, as a team, the one
Speaker 4: thing you need is freedom to make choices and freedom
Speaker 4: to do stuff. And it was the one thing that
Speaker 4: although we could do anything we wanted, it seemed from
Speaker 4: the outside that we were always locked in a room
Speaker 4: at night, and then it will be car, hotel room,
Speaker 4: stage seeing loocked. So it was like they pulled the
Speaker 4: dosk clough off let us out for a minute and
Speaker 4: it and then he's like back underneath it, and I'm like, get.
Speaker 1: It's interesting that it was easier for them to just
Speaker 1: lock the boys in a room rather than dealing with
Speaker 1: the chaos outside. I think it was more about controlling them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's fascinating that they were in a hotel room
Speaker 1: by themselves. That they didn't have them bunking in with
Speaker 1: the other band members, probably because they knew that at
Speaker 1: that age fights.
Speaker 2: Can break out. Well, there are a lot of fights.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've learned about how the boys didn't really all
Speaker 1: get along, and maybe that was at a time when
Speaker 1: they couldn't all be in a room together. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of one direction fans had this
Speaker 1: fantasy that they were all best friends. But with any
Speaker 1: random teenagers being put together, there's always going to be arguments,
Speaker 1: particularly when you have that level of fame and you're
Speaker 1: in an environment that's not normal. There have been a
Speaker 1: lot of eerie clips that have been resurfacing since Liam's death.
Speaker 1: One of them that I keep thinking about is in
Speaker 1: this clip where he spoke about the pranks that he
Speaker 1: pool whilst he was on tour and in one of them,
Speaker 1: he scaled down a rooftop to escape security.
Speaker 2: Let's row to what he said.
Speaker 5: We then got really dan and started having a bit
Speaker 5: big wat fight. But it was like it was during
Speaker 5: the time of like the Ace Booky Challenge and everyone's
Speaker 5: turn like whatever anyway me and I want to say,
Speaker 5: Louis that I could be wrong or like wet paper
Speaker 5: towel in whatever.
Speaker 6: I mean.
Speaker 5: His tourmenters were like locked in his bathroom and I
Speaker 5: was like, I knew they were getting a really big
Speaker 5: thing of water. So I was like, I'm going to
Speaker 5: go out here. And I were two stories off, but
Speaker 5: in these days, I was.
Speaker 7: Like the cat burglar. I would climb everything.
Speaker 5: So I climbed all the way down these two stories.
Speaker 1: With this in mind, it's really not surprising that in
Speaker 1: the first twenty four hours after his death, some fans
Speaker 1: were convinced that Liam was attempting to jump from his
Speaker 1: balcony into the pool. So he was staying in a
Speaker 1: hotel suite on the third floor, which had a balcony
Speaker 1: looking out to the communal pool area, and rumors started
Speaker 1: circulating on TikTok that Liam had been denied access to
Speaker 1: the pool by staff due to his very intoxicated state.
Speaker 2: So once he was locked away.
Speaker 1: In his room, the theory was that he attempted to
Speaker 1: jump into the pool from his balcony and he fell short.
Speaker 2: Because his body was.
Speaker 1: Found very close to the swimming pool. I think this
Speaker 1: theory arose because a lot of one direction fans are grappling,
Speaker 1: obviously with this news and trying to make sense of
Speaker 1: why he died and how, and a lot of people
Speaker 1: don't want to consider that potentially it could have been suicide,
Speaker 1: so they're thinking, well.
Speaker 2: Here's a fun guy. Maybe he was just jumping into
Speaker 2: the pool.
Speaker 1: I think we need to get into what he was
Speaker 1: actually doing in Argentina. So he was there earlier in
Speaker 1: the month with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy to attend his
Speaker 1: former bandmate Nile Horns concert, and before departing for Argentina,
Speaker 1: Liam posted a snapchat saying he was attending the concert
Speaker 1: as he wanted to square up a couple of things
Speaker 1: with Nile.
Speaker 8: Yeah, so today I am going to gine Argentina. U
Speaker 8: damn my Argentina. Going to Argentina one because we have to,
Speaker 8: and two because we want to, and three because niall
Speaker 8: Horan's playing down there, and I think we might just
Speaker 8: go and say hello. It's been a while since me
Speaker 8: and Nile have spoken. We've got a lot to talk about,
Speaker 8: and I would like to square up a couple things
Speaker 8: with the boy. No bad vibe or anything like that,
Speaker 8: but just we need to talk.
Speaker 1: Liam's behavior at Nile's concert raised a lot of eyebrows,
Speaker 1: and a lot of the clips of him there actually
Speaker 1: went viral on TikTok, So there were clips of him
Speaker 1: singing along to Nile's songs and almost doing his own
Speaker 1: meet and greet with fans, and he was accused of
Speaker 1: trying to steal attention away from Nile, and fans began
Speaker 1: comparing the way that Liam behaved at the concert to
Speaker 1: how Harry's Styles behaved at a recent concert back in August. So,
Speaker 1: while Harry was outs concert, he appeared in the backstage
Speaker 1: area and he ducked out before too many people noticed him,
Speaker 1: whereas Liam appeared to be lapping up all of the
Speaker 1: attention and he was very front and center in the box.
Speaker 1: I think that's such an unfair comparison when you do
Speaker 1: consider Liam's fame compared to Harry Styles's fame, Like I
Speaker 1: don't think Harry Styles could have sat in a box.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, the day before Liam died, I remember looking on
Speaker 1: TikTok and there were so many people recreating his moment
Speaker 1: and poking fun at him, and he started to be
Speaker 1: branded as cringe and he was slammed for acting really awkward.
Speaker 1: But it seems like a lot of fans think that
Speaker 1: this may have been a cry for help, and one
Speaker 1: user wrote he wasn't stealing attention, he was saying goodbye.
Speaker 2: That is so sad.
Speaker 1: Now, what has led to even more fascination in this
Speaker 1: story is that Liam's girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, is an American
Speaker 1: TikToker who was documenting the trip at the time. So
Speaker 1: before Liam's death, Kate originally had forty thousand followers on
Speaker 1: Instagram and around two hundred thousand on TikTok. It's quite
Speaker 1: eerie because one of her tiktoks actually popped up for
Speaker 1: me a week before he.
Speaker 2: Died, and I'm like, I haven't seen Liam Payne for
Speaker 2: so long.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because he kept being in these random tiktoks where
Speaker 1: he was doing fit checks and he just looked like
Speaker 1: he was playing the doting boyfriend part really well. Well,
Speaker 1: one of those fit checks in particular, actually worried a
Speaker 1: lot of fans because he kept popping in and out
Speaker 1: of the frame and she kept saying like, tell them
Speaker 1: what you're wearing, and he was just being very aloof.
Speaker 2: And people are like, is he okay?
Speaker 8: Now?
Speaker 1: Since Liam's death, Kate Cassidy has had an influx of followers.
Speaker 1: She now has six hundred and forty eight thousand on
Speaker 1: Instagram and nearly one million on TikTok. So I actually
Speaker 1: thought this was a new relationship, but they've been together
Speaker 1: since October twenty twenty two. They were first spotted attending
Speaker 1: a Halloween party dressed as Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee.
Speaker 1: Did you realize that they met because she was a
Speaker 1: waitress at a restaurant he was at.
Speaker 5: No.
Speaker 1: Isn't that like everyone's dream to meet someone famous like that?
Speaker 1: Well that makes a lot of sense, because I think
Speaker 1: a lot of one direction would have wished something like
Speaker 1: that would happen to them, and Liam actually ended up
Speaker 1: sharing some troll messages he got about Kate when they
Speaker 1: first started dating. So someone accused Kate of only being
Speaker 1: with him for his money, and he responded publicly on
Speaker 1: his Instagram story writing got to say. You could tell
Speaker 1: me anything, and I couldn't be turned. I've never felt
Speaker 1: a love like I do for Caitlin. We make each
Speaker 1: other better people. If it was just for the money,
Speaker 1: I'd give her all of it. It's not, though. Please
Speaker 1: remember I'm Hella sexy, and I know I'm fun and
Speaker 1: a lovable person, and I don't give a fuck to
Speaker 1: say that. For the first time in my life, I'm
Speaker 1: happy to be me and that's priceless.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 1: The couple have been spending time between London and Florida,
Speaker 1: and recently Kate documented them moving into this new mansion
Speaker 1: in Florida. She did a full house tour. It's just
Speaker 1: so eerie looking back at these tiktoks. Yeah, and they
Speaker 1: also recently adopted a rescue dog together, and in one
Speaker 1: of Liam's last Snapchat stories, which actually was put up
Speaker 1: an hour before his death, he spoke about how he
Speaker 1: was looking forward to getting home to his dog, Nala. Well,
Speaker 1: Kate actually left the trip early to get back to
Speaker 1: their dog, so the media are reporting that Liam allegedly
Speaker 1: pleaded with her to stay in Argentina with him and
Speaker 1: an apparent friend of the influencer told the Post Liam
Speaker 1: didn't want Kate to leave Argentina. He wanted her to stay.
Speaker 1: She says he begged her to stay now. The source
Speaker 1: also said that the argument was actually a little more
Speaker 1: heated than you'd think. The sad thing is they were
Speaker 1: only supposed to be in Argentina for five days, but
Speaker 1: Liam was forced to extend the trip to two weeks
Speaker 1: because his US visa application was rejected. In order to
Speaker 1: renew his immigration visa, Liam had to travel abroad, so
Speaker 1: a close friend said that that's why he chose to
Speaker 1: fly to Argentina, because he could watch Nale's performance and
Speaker 1: then also make his visa application at the US Embassy
Speaker 1: in Argentina, and that visa was initially refused because Liam
Speaker 1: owned up to the fact that he had abused drugs
Speaker 1: and alcohol in the past, and the only way to
Speaker 1: get the embassy to reconsider his application was if he
Speaker 1: underwent psychiatric and medical testing, which he did, which pushed
Speaker 1: out the length of their trip. His friend told The
Speaker 1: Daily Mail that he passed all the medical and psychiatric testing,
Speaker 1: but actually passed away before he could have his passport
Speaker 1: stamped and the visa renewed. It's really sad because Kate
Speaker 1: ended up leaving Argentina two days before Liam died, and
Speaker 1: she ended up documenting her trip home on TikTok, and
Speaker 1: I feel like that adds a whole layer to this
Speaker 1: story because I've never known a celebrity death where you
Speaker 1: can actually go back and watch almost in real time unfolding.
Speaker 1: It's just so weird to be able to see the
Speaker 1: footage of them leaving for the trip and then her
Speaker 1: on her way back home, which is clearly why her
Speaker 1: TikTok is blown up. I mean, her videos are getting
Speaker 1: over twenty million views now.
Speaker 2: Kate said that she'd been seated in seat one D.
Speaker 1: That's crazy, Yeah, she said, it happens quite a lot,
Speaker 1: which means that she travels at the front of the plane.
Speaker 1: She also said that she left her squish mallow with Liam,
Speaker 1: and she told her followers that she was so ready
Speaker 1: to leave and went on to say, honestly, I love
Speaker 1: South America, but I hate staying in one place for
Speaker 1: too long. There was also a deleted snapchat where Liam
Speaker 1: teased Kate about leaving him at Argentina. So he said,
Speaker 1: so it's going to be a nice day and then
Speaker 1: you're going home haha.
Speaker 2: Loser weirdo.
Speaker 1: Apparently, Kate ended up booking herself a ticket home because
Speaker 1: Liam couldn't tell her when he'd be ready to leave,
Speaker 1: and it was clear that she really wanted to get
Speaker 1: back home and in her routine, and the apparent sauce
Speaker 1: said that he was really unhappy about that.
Speaker 2: He made sure that she knew that.
Speaker 1: Reading the quotes that this source gave the media, it
Speaker 1: does appear like Liam and Kate were having a big
Speaker 1: argument before she left. However, they did push that the
Speaker 1: couple weren't having trouble. But it doesn't really match up
Speaker 1: to other news that has surfaced since Liam's passing because
Speaker 1: it was reported that two sex workers actually went to
Speaker 1: Liam's room hours before his death, and apparently their source
Speaker 1: said that Kate was still grappling with that information. She
Speaker 1: did release a statement following Liam's death which said, I
Speaker 1: have been at a complete loss. Nothing about the past
Speaker 1: few days has felt real and we will be going
Speaker 1: into the claims about the sex workers a little bit
Speaker 1: later in this episode. But as I touched on, it
Speaker 1: was really eerie because an hour before Liam passed away,
Speaker 1: videos were still being uploaded to his Snapchat story and
Speaker 1: I'm guessing that the videos had been scheduled in by
Speaker 1: an employee because it showed his last few days with
Speaker 1: Kate in Argentina, and in the video, Liam wasn't staying
Speaker 1: at the hotel, but he was staying at their friend
Speaker 1: Jones mansion. And these snapchats initially led to a lot
Speaker 1: of confusion because people were trying to piece it all together.
Speaker 1: They're like, this mustn't be true because he's staying at
Speaker 1: a friend's house.
Speaker 2: He's not even at a hotel.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it definitely added to the speculation and conspiracy theories
Speaker 1: that maybe he had not passed away. And it was
Speaker 1: TMZ who was the first media outlet to break the
Speaker 1: news of Liam's death, and they chose to prove the
Speaker 1: validity of their story by posting a very graphic photo
Speaker 1: of Liam's body on the hotel deck. In the photo,
Speaker 1: Liam's distinctive tattoos were shown on his arm, and any
Speaker 1: readers who clicked on an alert sent out by TMZ,
Speaker 1: whether it was a tweet or even a link shared
Speaker 1: via a text message, they were met with the gruesome images.
Speaker 1: It just horrifies me that media still act in this way.
Speaker 1: The family probably didn't even know about the news and
Speaker 1: they're reporting pictures of Liam's dead body.
Speaker 2: That is just horrific.
Speaker 1: To think that the family potentially could have found out
Speaker 1: that way and have seen the imagery just is so disturbing.
Speaker 2: From someone who's.
Speaker 1: Worked in a newsroom, I understand that journalists need proof
Speaker 1: to firm up a story in order for them to go.
Speaker 2: To print with the breaking news.
Speaker 1: However, I don't understand why the photos ever had to
Speaker 1: see the light of day, because if they were cited
Speaker 1: by TMZ's editorial team, that gave them the proof to
Speaker 1: accurately break the news, there was no need for anyone
Speaker 1: else to see the photos at all. Oh I completely agree,
Speaker 1: and it's not the first time TMZ has actually done
Speaker 1: something like this. So back when Kobe Bryant and his
Speaker 1: daughter passed and a helicopter crash in January twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: TMZ shared the news before police were able to notify
Speaker 1: his family. Now Vanessa Bryant later testified in court that
Speaker 1: she learned of her husband and daughter's death through social media. Thankfully,
Speaker 1: these photos were removed on TMZ's website after a lot
Speaker 1: of backlash. But what's really scary is that new photos
Speaker 1: are popping up all over Twitter. So I've seen a
Speaker 1: lot of people creating TikTok videos warning people not to
Speaker 1: click on these images because there's apparently so many of them.
Speaker 1: I assume that they were taken by hotel staff and
Speaker 1: guests and they've just been doing the rounds. I don't
Speaker 1: want to see any of those images, Like something like
Speaker 1: that really does stay with you, and to think about
Speaker 1: all of the young kids online that could potentially be
Speaker 1: seeing these images, because there's this gross fascination. Like, for
Speaker 1: some reason, when I heard that these images were out there,
Speaker 1: I almost wanted to look at them to know that
Speaker 1: it was true as well. It's a weird thing about
Speaker 1: being decense these sorts of graphic imagery. But it's just
Speaker 1: such a disgusting invasion of someone's privacy. I mean, he
Speaker 1: has clearly been hounded by the paparazzi in during the
Speaker 1: heart of his fame, and now he can't even die peacefully.
Speaker 1: There's people taking photos of his body. It kind of
Speaker 1: reminds me of when Princess Diana died and there were
Speaker 1: paparazzi literally taking photos of her dying instead of getting
Speaker 1: her help. Now, a day after his death, authorities released
Speaker 1: Limb's preliminary or topsy results which showed he died from
Speaker 1: multiple injuries sustained from the full which led to internal
Speaker 1: and external bleeding and a fractured skull. Twenty five injuries
Speaker 1: were reported, including to the skull, abdomen, and limbs. Now,
Speaker 1: the investigators suspect that lim was partially or fully unconscious
Speaker 1: when he fell from the balcony due to the position
Speaker 1: in which his body was found and also the fact
Speaker 1: that he had no signs of defensive wounds on his hands. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because when you fall, you have this automatic reflex action,
Speaker 1: so your brain will basically tell your hands and arms
Speaker 1: to reach out to try and break your full and
Speaker 1: in this case, the autopsy results show that he did
Speaker 1: not adopt a reflex posture to protect himself, and the
Speaker 1: report also noted that there were no signs of a
Speaker 1: fight and confirmed that Liam was alone in his hotel
Speaker 1: room at the time of his fall. There is heartbreaking
Speaker 1: vision doing the rounds on media and social media at
Speaker 1: the moment of Liam's father, Jeff, visiting the hotel room.
Speaker 1: My heart dropped when I saw it because there's this
Speaker 1: shot of him leaning against the balcony rail to see
Speaker 1: how Liam could have fallen like trying to work out
Speaker 1: was it an accident. Yeah, And in the video he
Speaker 1: tries to fall from backwards as well as forwards. And
Speaker 1: again these are images that we shouldn't have access to,
Speaker 1: but again the ones that you just can't look away from.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, back to the autopsy. While the report said the
Speaker 1: injuries were enough to cause Liam's death, prosecutors are describing
Speaker 1: the case as suspicious and the exact cause of death
Speaker 1: is still under investigation. So at the time this was
Speaker 1: because of the likelihood that Liam had been drinking alcohol
Speaker 1: and taking drugs that day. Now the prosecutor's office requested
Speaker 1: additional exams, including a toxicology report, and over the weekend
Speaker 1: police told TMZ that they believed Liam was under the
Speaker 1: influence of crystal, which is a drug known to cause
Speaker 1: psychotic attacks and hallucinations. It's also known to make people
Speaker 1: very aggressive. It's very unusual in Australia for police to
Speaker 1: give direct quotes like that to the media outlets, particularly TMZ,
Speaker 1: but in Argentinea this is not clearly the case. It
Speaker 1: does really paint a new idea of what went on.
Speaker 1: So it sounds like Liam may have been under the
Speaker 1: influence and been hallucinating, which caused him to then jump,
Speaker 1: maybe thinking he was jumping into the pool or jumping
Speaker 1: into something, or to just fall.
Speaker 2: From the bawconnected. I didn't know what he was doing.
Speaker 1: Now, in new claims, it's being reported that investigators believe
Speaker 1: a hotel employee may have sourced the drugs for Liam
Speaker 1: before his fall.
Speaker 2: Now, in another.
Speaker 1: Invasion of Liam's privacy, the media were quick to publish
Speaker 1: images inside his hotel room. So the photo showed a
Speaker 1: smashed up TV, a half empty wine glass, white powder
Speaker 1: all over the suite, as well as foil which was
Speaker 1: scattered throughout the hotel room. There was also a dove
Speaker 1: soap box packet and the remains of a burnt top
Speaker 1: of a drink can which was scattered also across the room.
Speaker 1: For someone who does not do drugs, I was like,
Speaker 1: what is the significance of the soap and also of
Speaker 1: the our foil? Well in terms of the soap, A
Speaker 1: theory on TikTok is that maybe a hotel worker transported
Speaker 1: the drugs in the dove soap box.
Speaker 2: Oh, okay, disguise it now.
Speaker 1: The drug klnazepan was also found in Liam's sweet which
Speaker 1: is often used to control epilepsy, involuntary spasms and also
Speaker 1: panic disorders. Now, disturbingly, these images were believed to have
Speaker 1: been released by authorities and again this would never happen
Speaker 1: in Australia or the US, but apparently it is common
Speaker 1: practice in Argentina because they don't up hold the same
Speaker 1: standards to privacy as other countries do. Liam has been
Speaker 1: very open with his fans and also the media about
Speaker 1: his struggles with addiction, anxiety, and also suicidal thoughts. During
Speaker 1: an interview in twenty nineteen, Liam admitted that he was
Speaker 1: still lucky to be here and it's something he said
Speaker 1: he had never spoken about with people before. Liam has
Speaker 1: been open about his journey with alcohol as well, so
Speaker 1: he initially started drinking to help him deal with processing
Speaker 1: the fame from one direction, and he said, it's almost
Speaker 1: like putting the Disney costume on before you step up
Speaker 1: on stage, and underneath the Disney costume, I was pissed
Speaker 1: quite a lot of the time because there was no
Speaker 1: other way to get your head around what was going on.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was fun. We had an absolute blast,
Speaker 1: but there were certain parts of it where it just
Speaker 1: got a little bit toxic In July last year, he
Speaker 1: also shared a video to YouTube revealing he had a
Speaker 1: one hundred day stint in rehab. Let's have a listen
Speaker 1: to what he said.
Speaker 7: I just ad a little bit of time out. I was
Speaker 7: just sorry for the mia. It was a few reasons
Speaker 7: why I did that. Whed to take a little bit
Speaker 7: of time out for myself actual because I kind of
Speaker 7: became somebody who I didn't really recognize anymore, and I'm
Speaker 7: sure you guys didn't either. I was so angry at
Speaker 7: what was going on around me, and instead of taking
Speaker 7: a look inwards, I decided to look outwards to everybody else.
Speaker 7: And I just think, yeah, I just took it out
Speaker 7: on everybody else, which is just wrong really, and my
Speaker 7: own frustrations with my own career and where I kind
Speaker 7: of London, I shot everybody else, which is wrong. So
Speaker 7: obviously I want to apologize for that in the first instance, because.
Speaker 3: That's definitely not me.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, this Stinton rehab was not his last, so according
Speaker 1: to the Sun newspapers, Liam actually entered a rehab facility
Speaker 1: in late July this year for drug and alcohol addiction.
Speaker 1: Now he was doing a twenty eight day addiction therapy program,
Speaker 1: but left after forty eight hours. Now back to the hotel,
Speaker 1: Casa Sir, because there have been a lot of claim
Speaker 1: circulating TikTok, the hotel staff gave Liam the illegal substances
Speaker 1: which were found in his room. Now, this was first
Speaker 1: released on TikTok by Kimberly Clementine, and she shared a
Speaker 1: leaked voice note which was allegedly from another hotel worker.
Speaker 1: She ended up translated it to her followers because it
Speaker 1: was in Spanish. Now, the alleged hotel worker said that
Speaker 1: Liam was in the hotel for a week and was
Speaker 1: a substance user, an alcoholic, and a jerk who was
Speaker 1: very sick. He went on to allege that Liam was
Speaker 1: demanding that the hotel reps give him substances and one
Speaker 1: ended up.
Speaker 2: Delivering the goods.
Speaker 1: The audio then went onto allege that hotel staff tried
Speaker 1: to kick Liam out, but they couldn't when they discovered
Speaker 1: that their worker was the one who supplied him with
Speaker 1: the drugs. If this is true, it does make more
Speaker 1: sense as to why the hotel didn't want to call
Speaker 1: the police immediately when Liam seemed off. Yeah, they could
Speaker 1: have allegedly been trying to cover their tracks, and it
Speaker 1: seems like now that there is a deeper investigation into
Speaker 1: these issues, that the hotel could potentially be held responsible
Speaker 1: for part of this. Yeah, And in the audio, the
Speaker 1: hotel worker also alleged that Liam had two sex workers
Speaker 1: in his hotel room just hours before his death, which
Speaker 1: we did touch on earlier. So when police released Liam's autopsy,
Speaker 1: they confirmed they speaking to three hotel staff and two
Speaker 1: women who visited Liam's room before his death. Now it's
Speaker 1: important to note that it's being confirmed both women had
Speaker 1: already left the hotel when the incident occurred. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: media are now reporting that Liam was seen arguing with
Speaker 1: a woman about money in.
Speaker 2: The lobby just hours before he fell.
Speaker 1: It is believed to be one of these sex workers,
Speaker 1: and a witness claimed to have heard Liam say to
Speaker 1: the woman, I'll give you twenty thousand dollars just because
Speaker 1: I can. I have fifty five million and I like
Speaker 1: to help people. Now, this situation was described by the
Speaker 1: witness as being very tense, and a hotel staff member
Speaker 1: was there helping to translate the conversation to Liam because
Speaker 1: the woman spoke Spanish. With all this information coming out
Speaker 1: about the sex workers, I do really feel for Kate
Speaker 1: Cassidy as well as Liam's family. There is some information
Speaker 1: that you don't want to know about a family member
Speaker 1: and also your boyfriend Donna. Yeah, it's be so difficult
Speaker 1: to grapple with perhaps feeling guilt over his death, not
Speaker 1: that she is responsible in any means, but you would
Speaker 1: feel bad that you had left to go back home
Speaker 1: and you weren't there when it happened. But then there's
Speaker 1: this new layer of feeling angry towards that person because
Speaker 1: they potentially have cheated on you.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Now, since the news of Liam's death broke, fans and
Speaker 1: the media have been digging into the past and trying
Speaker 1: to understand what has happened in the days leading up
Speaker 1: to his death. So among their discoveries is the fact
Speaker 1: that Liam's ex fiance, Maya Henry, launched legal action against
Speaker 1: Liam a few weeks before his death. So the twenty
Speaker 1: three year old had issued a ceased and desist letter
Speaker 1: against Liam, saying he had repeatedly been contacting her, her
Speaker 1: friends and family. A spokesperson for Maya said that they
Speaker 1: issued the cease and desist following the emergence of new
Speaker 1: and concerning information with so many One Direction fans destraw
Speaker 1: and at a loss to make sense.
Speaker 2: Of this tragedy.
Speaker 1: They are looking for someone to blame, and that person
Speaker 1: appears to be Maya.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Maya first met Liam at a meet and greet when
Speaker 1: she was just fifteen years old. So a friend had
Speaker 1: dragged her along to a One Direction concert, and she
Speaker 1: said she instantly fell in love with the band. So
Speaker 1: among a thousand other screaming fans, Maya met the band
Speaker 1: members and snapped a quick photo with the boys. Now,
Speaker 1: that same year, Maya gained public attention of her own
Speaker 1: when her father threw her a six million dollar fifteenth
Speaker 1: birthday party, which featured performances by Pitbull and also Nick Jonas. Now,
Speaker 1: this event catapulted her into the spotlight, and she started
Speaker 1: to build a following on Instagram and also pick up
Speaker 1: some modeling opportunities. And it wasn't until she was eighteen
Speaker 1: when she crossed paths with Liam again because she was
Speaker 1: modeling in a fashion show and Liam was also performing
Speaker 1: at one of the parties there. Now, they were only
Speaker 1: together for three months until Liam popped the question, and
Speaker 1: during their time together, a lot was made of the
Speaker 1: fact that Maya was previously a fan, because a lot
Speaker 1: of fans were jealous of her because she was.
Speaker 2: Living out their dream now.
Speaker 1: They were very on and off again until in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two when they fisially parted ways and ended their engagement.
Speaker 1: And it was in May this year that Maya released
Speaker 1: a fiction book called Looking Forward, which was a play
Speaker 1: on the name One Direction. And whilst the book is fiction,
Speaker 1: it is said to be inspired by true events. So
Speaker 1: the novel follows the story of Mallory, an aspiring model
Speaker 1: who falls in love with Oliver, a former boy band member. Ironically,
Speaker 1: Maya says it was actually Liam who encouraged her to
Speaker 1: write the book. So when they were together, they went
Speaker 1: to the theater to see The After Movie, which is
Speaker 1: pretty wild because the movie is an adaptation of Anna
Speaker 1: Todd's fan fiction book about Harry Styles and the rest
Speaker 1: of the One Direction crew, and after the movie, Liam
Speaker 1: said to Maya, you should write a book about our relationship.
Speaker 1: Fans would love to read a book about a fan
Speaker 1: getting to date one of the band members. So Maya
Speaker 1: had actually written a couple of children's books before and
Speaker 1: thought that this was a really good idea, and at
Speaker 1: the time, I'm sure Liam thought that this was going
Speaker 1: to be a very glowing review of their relationship. Now,
Speaker 1: in the novel, Oliver's character transforms from a clean cut,
Speaker 1: pop start into an unpredictable addict with a volatile temper.
Speaker 1: And in the book, Maya speaks about the abuse that
Speaker 1: Mallory faced at the hands of Oliver. Now the story
Speaker 1: speaks in detail about Oliver's drug and alcohol addiction, and
Speaker 1: in one section, Maya writes about Oliver chasing Mallory with
Speaker 1: an axe. Maya has later confirmed that this incident took
Speaker 1: place in real life. Let's read out the excerpt. Suddenly
Speaker 1: I see Oliver grab something that's next to his bed,
Speaker 1: an axe. He is playfully swinging it around. He starts
Speaker 1: hitting the bed next to me with the axe, hitting
Speaker 1: to one side of me, then the other side. I
Speaker 1: am sitting in the middle watching him hit the bed
Speaker 1: whack whack, laughing as if he is playing.
Speaker 2: I try to laugh it off.
Speaker 1: Next thing I know, he is ferociously whacking the white
Speaker 1: duvet with this crazed, insane look again. I freak out
Speaker 1: and start running to the guest room down the hall.
Speaker 1: Oliver is chasing me with the axe. I scream and
Speaker 1: Oliver freezes with the axe in the air. I am
Speaker 1: screaming some more. I back away and run down the hallway.
Speaker 1: I am begging him to stop. Then I'm yelling some more.
Speaker 1: I just know my throat is going to be raw tomorrow.
Speaker 1: He doesn't seem to hear me or anything else. He
Speaker 1: is in a frenzy, heaving the axe, then shouting to himself,
Speaker 1: stomping down the hall a few steps yelling. I beg
Speaker 1: him to stop. He doesn't take any notice. I yell
Speaker 1: loud it, desperate and so afraid, not for what he
Speaker 1: might do to me, even more for what he could
Speaker 1: do to himself. He is so sloppy and out of control.
Speaker 1: Just one stumble and he could accidentally cut his own fingers,
Speaker 1: or worse, just one bad aim and dot dot. Then
Speaker 1: it happens that one bad aim. Lifting the axe again,
Speaker 1: he plunges it into the TV. My feet hit the
Speaker 1: cold marble floor. As I try to escape, I lock
Speaker 1: myself in the guests bathroom. My back slides down the door,
Speaker 1: and I'm screaming in tears. Not only am I scared,
Speaker 1: I'm wondering how the hell I got here?
Speaker 2: Is this real?
Speaker 1: Wow? That is really hard to listen to. We do
Speaker 1: want to reiterate that these are unconfirmed allegations.
Speaker 2: What I find really eerie is the mention of the TV.
Speaker 1: After seeing photos of his TV destroyed in the hotel room,
Speaker 1: I did think of that as well. Now. In another
Speaker 1: section of Maya's book, she writes that Oliver sent Mallory's
Speaker 1: mother an unsolicited dick pit, and in the book, Maya
Speaker 1: also wrote about the main character undergoing a painful abortion
Speaker 1: that Oliver insisted she had otherwise he would leave her.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 1: Speaking to People magazine in may Maya said, what I
Speaker 1: went through in real life is very similar to what
Speaker 1: Mallory went through in the book. I definitely did have
Speaker 1: complications and did have to go to the hospital alone.
Speaker 1: She continued, saying, if it were up to me, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have had it done. But then also if I
Speaker 1: were to have made a different decision, than I would
Speaker 1: have lost the person that I loved now. In the
Speaker 1: lead up to Maya's book release, she gave interviews to
Speaker 1: high profile media outlets about the book and also Liam's
Speaker 1: alleged abuse, but they have all refused to run the
Speaker 1: story due to the fear of being sued. And I'm
Speaker 1: also guessing due to Liam's star power. Now, it wasn't
Speaker 1: until Maya posted a TikTok video on the tenth of
Speaker 1: October that people started to take notice. Ironically, Maya posted
Speaker 1: a video revealing that it was in fact Zay who
Speaker 1: threw Liam up against a wall during their one D days. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there had been a lot of speculation about this since
Speaker 1: Liam appeared on Logan Pol's podcast and he said that
Speaker 1: things got physical between him and an unnamed band member. Now,
Speaker 1: this video attracted over three million views, with some one
Speaker 1: D fans attacking Maya for talking about Lim and saying
Speaker 1: that she should get his name.
Speaker 2: Out of her mouth.
Speaker 1: Here's how Maya responded, y'all.
Speaker 9: Don't even know what happens behind closed doors. Are in private.
Speaker 9: Ever since we broke up, he messages me, will blow
Speaker 9: up my phone, mind you, not only from his phone number.
Speaker 9: He It's always from different phone numbers too, so I
Speaker 9: never know where it's going to come from. He'll create
Speaker 9: new iCloud accounts to I message me, it's always a
Speaker 9: damnew ICoD account. I'm like, every time I see one
Speaker 9: pop up on my phone, I'm like, here we fucking
Speaker 9: go again. Also, will email me and he does this
Speaker 9: when he gets his phone taken away. Also, not only me,
Speaker 9: but he'll blow up my mom's phone. Is that normal
Speaker 9: behavior to you?
Speaker 1: She also continued, saying that he would message her friends
Speaker 1: during their relationship and ask them to come over while
Speaker 1: she was away to hook up. She then went on
Speaker 1: to accuse him of grooming his fans. Let's hear more
Speaker 1: of what she said.
Speaker 9: He says that he prays on one direction fans because
Speaker 9: they will always be loyal to him and they won't
Speaker 9: tell on him. So it's like, okay, not only are
Speaker 9: you you and also you weaponize your own fan base.
Speaker 1: Now, following the TikTok video, Maya said that she was
Speaker 1: flooded with messages from women claiming to have similar experiences
Speaker 1: with Lim and coming forward with fresh information. She thanked
Speaker 1: people for their overwhelming support and said she was using
Speaker 1: her voice to hold men accountable. Now, as we touched
Speaker 1: on a week before Liam's death, Maya launched legal action
Speaker 1: against him. It's quite interesting because Maya's father is a
Speaker 1: very high profile lawyer, and Maya is also planning to
Speaker 1: start law school soon. Now, following news of the legal letter,
Speaker 1: one dfan started abusing Maya online. One called her a
Speaker 1: clout chaser and said Liam will always be more famous
Speaker 1: than you. Move on, girl, whilst another said unless you
Speaker 1: go to court or have solid proof, girly, I don't
Speaker 1: believe you, honestly, whilst another said begging on your knees.
Speaker 2: To be popular.
Speaker 1: It's just awful to read those sorts of commentary, particularly
Speaker 1: when it's women commenting that to women now. Two days
Speaker 1: before Liam's death, The Internet Is Dead podcast aired an
Speaker 1: interview with Maya where she went into detail about the
Speaker 1: abuse she allegedly faced from Liam. It's quite odd because
Speaker 1: The Internet Is Dead podcast is a US space podcast
Speaker 1: with a really small following so on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1: They only have around two hundred followers and as hosted
Speaker 1: by twenty three year old best friends Brittany and Samara,
Speaker 1: and they admitted that they were part of the one
Speaker 1: D fandom growing up.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: I'm guessing that Maya agreed to go on their podcasts
Speaker 1: due to the fact that larger media outlets were refusing
Speaker 1: to publish her claims.
Speaker 2: And she really.
Speaker 1: Thanked the girls for having her on, and she seemed
Speaker 1: really genuinely appreciative to have a space.
Speaker 2: To tell her story.
Speaker 1: We've got to remember that while this story about Liam
Speaker 1: Payne is the biggest entertainment story of the year, a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago, Liam Payne's fame wasn't huge. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but at the same time, he was still in the
Speaker 1: zeitgeist because people were trolling him over his performance at
Speaker 1: Niale's concert. I also didn't like the way that this
Speaker 1: podcast refused to use the term allegedly. Well, it is
Speaker 1: interesting that Maya chose to be on this podcast because
Speaker 1: maybe she thought they're not very educated on media law.
Speaker 1: I can get my feelings out there and then they
Speaker 1: will be liable. Yeah.
Speaker 6: Well.
Speaker 1: In the interview, Maya alleged that the abuse started happening
Speaker 1: after they got engaged. During Lockdown Now in what is
Speaker 1: a very eerie listen, she spoke about how Lim messaged
Speaker 1: her mum saying he wasn't going to be around for
Speaker 1: much longer.
Speaker 9: He would always play with death and be like, well,
Speaker 9: I'm gonna die. I'm not doing well, and there was
Speaker 9: one time I tried to get them help and then
Speaker 9: he was like not taking it. He would text my mom,
Speaker 9: I'm not doing well. Have my contact me because I
Speaker 9: wouldn't respond and it's just always the same cycle and
Speaker 9: every time that, Like for example, when I announced my book,
Speaker 9: he did the same thing. He called my mom.
Speaker 2: I think I'm not going to be around much longer.
Speaker 6: The message is telling you that he like he might die.
Speaker 6: Like that's like such a low level of manipulation. Yeah,
Speaker 6: I'm so terrifying because it's like you feel so responsible
Speaker 6: for this person, Like if something happens, you're gonna feel
Speaker 6: really guilty about it, even though it's not your fault.
Speaker 2: Like you like are your own person.
Speaker 6: You don't have to take care of this human who
Speaker 6: like has traumatized you. That's like so messed up.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry if I'm aious.
Speaker 9: I remember when he first did that. I was like
Speaker 9: I would always because I was always like I know
Speaker 9: the lifestyle he lives and there isn't where something bad
Speaker 9: is going to happen, So I would always be like, Okay,
Speaker 9: he's saying these things. I have to help him because
Speaker 9: if I don't, I will never be able to live
Speaker 9: with myself if something does happen to him, because you know,
Speaker 9: as I said, he's a father, he has a family,
Speaker 9: Like I just want to help, and I mean up
Speaker 9: even until my book was coming out. Even one of
Speaker 9: his friends was calling me and my mom being like, oh,
Speaker 9: you know, this isn't a good time for him. I
Speaker 9: don't think you should put the book out. You know,
Speaker 9: he's not doing well, and if something happens to him,
Speaker 9: not only are you going to blame yourself, but the
Speaker 9: whole world's going to blame you.
Speaker 1: I listened to this full podcast on the day that
Speaker 1: the news broke about Liam's death, and my jaw was
Speaker 1: on the ground.
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe what was being said.
Speaker 1: And it's really bad because I think that someone should
Speaker 1: be able to talk about what happened to them, they
Speaker 1: should be able to screem it from the rooftops. But
Speaker 1: in saying that, it's really difficult to listen to the
Speaker 1: fact that friends pleaded with her to think about his
Speaker 1: mental health. In hindsight, yes, but in abusive relationships, it
Speaker 1: isn't uncommon for the abuser to use suicide as a
Speaker 1: threat to control people. And there's no way that Maya
Speaker 1: could predict what was actually going to happen. And I'm
Speaker 1: sure it was not her intention for this to happen.
Speaker 2: No, And I think what was.
Speaker 1: Clear listening to the full podcast is that she really
Speaker 1: did care about Liam, because even when they were broken up,
Speaker 1: she tried to get Liam help and encouraged him to
Speaker 1: go to rehab. As soon as the news broke of
Speaker 1: Liam's death, Maya's social media accounts were flooded with death
Speaker 1: threats and one defense holding her response for the death.
Speaker 1: One said Liam Payne is dead because of you. Another said,
Speaker 1: now he is dead, are you happy?
Speaker 2: I just think it's.
Speaker 1: Really troubling that this is a twenty three year old
Speaker 1: woman who has found the bravery to speak out against
Speaker 1: physical and emotional abuse that she allegedly received at the
Speaker 1: hands of someone who is very high profile, and she
Speaker 1: is now being vilified and blamed for his death. I
Speaker 1: think it's very clear, since more reports have come out
Speaker 1: about the situation surrounding Liam's death, that.
Speaker 2: This wasn't the only thing on his mind.
Speaker 1: It unfortunately is very bad timing and these comments have
Speaker 1: not aged well.
Speaker 2: No, but it doesn't.
Speaker 1: Mean that she is responsible for his actions. I mean,
Speaker 1: Liam has been suffering from chronic drug and alcohol problems
Speaker 1: for years. She tried to get him help with these issues,
Speaker 1: and from what she said in the interview, she is
Speaker 1: just scratching the surface of things that he has allegedly
Speaker 1: done to her. And I think in times like this,
Speaker 1: as a society, we really want someone to blame and
Speaker 1: hold respondsible for his death, and no one looks inwards
Speaker 1: at themselves and thinks, well, maybe it was unhelpful to
Speaker 1: troll him over his appearance at Niles concert, or maybe
Speaker 1: we shouldn't have been knocking down his door trying to
Speaker 1: get photos with him, or giving him space and the
Speaker 1: privacy that he needed.
Speaker 2: No one wants to blame themselves. They want to blame
Speaker 2: someone else.
Speaker 1: Everyone loves to shift the blame. What makes no sense
Speaker 1: to me is that Liam's cause of death has not
Speaker 1: been proven. It is still under investigation. These fans clearly
Speaker 1: think that he has taken his own life because of
Speaker 1: what Maya has said, and in order to punish her,
Speaker 1: they're trolling her, so eventually she takes her own life.
Speaker 2: Like it doesn't make any sense. I would literally hate.
Speaker 1: To know what she's going through at the moment, particularly
Speaker 1: because even though it's not her fault, I'm sure that
Speaker 1: she would hold guilt around this. And it doesn't help
Speaker 1: when you have people saying your worst fear, yeah, and
Speaker 1: it's your fault and also she's trying to deal with
Speaker 1: what also has allegedly happened to her at the same
Speaker 1: time as navigating sadness around her alleged abus's death. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's also been another TikToker who's been dragged into this controversy.
Speaker 1: Her name is also Maya Henry and she is an
Speaker 1: actress and content creator from Canada. So a number of
Speaker 1: media publications have mistakenly used her images in articles confusing
Speaker 1: her for Liam's ex fiance, and this has resulted in
Speaker 1: her copying a barrage.
Speaker 2: Of hate and abuse.
Speaker 1: So her TikTok came up on my newsfeed and I
Speaker 1: just assumed it was her and she was like, it
Speaker 1: was not on my bingo card to be blamed for
Speaker 1: the death of Liam Payne, And I was like, oh wow,
Speaker 1: has Maya Henry actually came out and spoken about this?
Speaker 1: And then I was so confused because that was her
Speaker 1: name as well, and she looked a lot like her now.
Speaker 1: Sheryl Cole, who was Liam's former partner and the mother
Speaker 1: to his childbare released a very heart wrenching statement reminding
Speaker 1: the world that we have lost a human being now.
Speaker 1: She expressed her disappointment at the media coverage, labeling it
Speaker 1: abhorrent and describing the reporting as media exploitation. She also
Speaker 1: described Liam's death as an earth shattering event and said
Speaker 1: Liam was not only a pop star and a celebrity.
Speaker 1: He was a son, a brother, an uncle, a dear friend,
Speaker 1: and a father to our seven year old son, a
Speaker 1: son that now has to face the reality of never
Speaker 1: seeing his father again. It is breaking my heart further
Speaker 1: that I cannot protect him from that in his future.
Speaker 1: Please give Liam the dignity he has left in the
Speaker 1: wake of his death to rest in some peace at last.
Speaker 1: That is just so sad to listen to the fact
Speaker 1: that Liam has a seven year old son who was
Speaker 1: trying to navigate this situation as well. And then you've
Speaker 1: got photos of your father's dead body being circulated around Twitter.
Speaker 1: It is so sad that potentially, one day Bear could
Speaker 1: see those photos. I really hope that they are completely
Speaker 1: wipe from the Internet. What also made me very sad
Speaker 1: was reading the tributes that Liam's former bandmates left for him.
Speaker 1: So Zayne wrote, even though you were younger than me,
Speaker 1: you were always more sensible than me. Your head strong,
Speaker 1: opinionated and gave no fucks telling people when they were wrong.
Speaker 1: Even though we butted heads because of this a few times,
Speaker 1: I always secretly respected you for it. It's important to
Speaker 1: point out that he included a laughing face emoji in there.
Speaker 2: I think to point out.
Speaker 1: That their fights were lighthearted because they have been so
Speaker 1: pumped up in the media. Zaane has also postponed the
Speaker 1: US leg of his tour as he grieves, which it
Speaker 1: just shows how impactful this death has been. I found
Speaker 1: it really hard to read Lewis's statement as well, because
Speaker 1: he recently has lost his mum and sister, so this
Speaker 1: is another big loss for him. So he opened up
Speaker 1: that he had lost a brother in Liam and described
Speaker 1: him as the most vital part of One Direction. He
Speaker 1: also said he was grateful that they'd become even closer
Speaker 1: since the band split up, and would speak on the
Speaker 1: phone with Liam for hours, reminiscing about their thousands of
Speaker 1: amazing memories. He also vowed to be there for Bear
Speaker 1: and tell him how amazing his dad was. I feel
Speaker 1: like Harry Styles was probably the most put together and
Speaker 1: professional media release I fromly had.
Speaker 2: Helped from his media team.
Speaker 1: So he wrote that he was devastated by Liam's passing
Speaker 1: and that the years he spent with Liam and One
Speaker 1: Direction will be the most cherished years.
Speaker 2: Of his life. Now.
Speaker 1: Niall put out his statement last, and I think it's
Speaker 1: because he was probably most impacted by it because he
Speaker 1: only recently saw Liam, and he said he feels so
Speaker 1: fortunate to have seen him at his concert, and he
Speaker 1: never would have realized that after saying goodbye and hugging
Speaker 1: him that night, it would be the last goodbye for ever.
Speaker 2: Oh it's just so sad.
Speaker 1: I really feel for Nihile in this situation, because there
Speaker 1: must be a part of him that blames himself that
Speaker 1: he had a concert there and you know those sliding
Speaker 1: door moments. Now, I do want to talk about the
Speaker 1: reaction from the fans after Liam's death because I find
Speaker 1: it so interesting. So when the news broke, One Direction
Speaker 1: fans literally returned to the fandom to seek comfort and support.
Speaker 1: So a lot of inactive fan accounts and group chats
Speaker 1: that were once frozen in time suddenly began buzzing again.
Speaker 1: And I think that's because of the complexity that surrounds
Speaker 1: Liam's legacy.
Speaker 2: So the fandom has been.
Speaker 1: A safe space for directioners to share their grief without
Speaker 1: any judgment. And I think that that's because they feel
Speaker 1: like directioners are the only ones who truly understand what
Speaker 1: they're going through and there's not going to be any judgment. Yeah,
Speaker 1: particularly TikTok is a rough place at the moment if
Speaker 1: you are a one Direction fan. So I am glad
Speaker 1: that they do have this safe place to mourn. As
Speaker 1: we touched on at the start of the episode, we
Speaker 1: were One Direction fans but not a part of the
Speaker 1: fandom itself. But I think we have been in a
Speaker 1: sense part of a fandom before.
Speaker 2: So I think the big one for us was the
Speaker 2: Dean Guya forum.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's wild to think how popular forums were in.
Speaker 2: Was it what one? Was it like twenty I think
Speaker 2: two thousand and.
Speaker 1: Six, Yeah, so because we didn't I don't think Twitter
Speaker 1: was around then. So it was really forums that you
Speaker 1: would go on and you would make friends with these
Speaker 1: people that also liked the celebrity that you were interested in.
Speaker 1: And there's such a hierarchy when it comes to these fandoms,
Speaker 1: Like I remember on the Dean Guy forum, people's avatars
Speaker 1: would really give you an idea of what you thought
Speaker 1: they were like, Like if they had a really nice
Speaker 1: avatar with nice pictures of Dean Guy, you kind of
Speaker 1: though of them in a different way. And on these forums,
Speaker 1: I have to say that the majority of people always
Speaker 1: have a distaste for the girlfriend or whoever the girlfriend is,
Speaker 1: even if they're the nicest person on the planet, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of jealousy surrounding it. Yeah, And in saying that,
Speaker 1: I do think the friendships that are formed in these
Speaker 1: sorts of communities are very genuine, because while you get
Speaker 1: together to talk about maybe album releases or award show performances,
Speaker 1: there's also personal chats going on and people sharing their
Speaker 1: own life milestones in the general.
Speaker 2: Chat on those types of forums.
Speaker 1: So while the relationship with the band was a parasocial
Speaker 1: one for Directioners, the friendships within that.
Speaker 2: Community were very real.
Speaker 1: And this community of fans I think was one of
Speaker 1: the most significant things to come from one Directtiontion's existence
Speaker 1: and their directions were really the originators of modern stan Twitter.
Speaker 1: So they use the platform to communicate with the boys
Speaker 1: and fans as well as get the band trending online.
Speaker 1: They set the tone for a lot of other big
Speaker 1: fan groups. I noticed a lot of Directioners were saying
Speaker 1: that Liam's passing very much reminded them of the day
Speaker 1: when Zain announced he was leaving the band. And I
Speaker 1: think it's because there's this real finalness to it, because
Speaker 1: there have been rumors for.
Speaker 2: Months that One Direction was going to reform and.
Speaker 1: We were going to have a reunion, we were going
Speaker 1: to get new shows, new concerts, and I think that
Speaker 1: there's a real feeling and knowledge that probably is not
Speaker 1: going to happen, particularly because Liam sang a lot of
Speaker 1: the songs. Well, people want a reunion of all five members,
Speaker 1: they don't want to of just the four. And I
Speaker 1: think it was the nature of the way the boys
Speaker 1: actually went on a hiatus, so it was described as
Speaker 1: an indefinite hiatus in twenty fifteen, and as you said, Sophie,
Speaker 1: there were recently murmurs of this reun so a lot
Speaker 1: of fans were getting excited about it. So one Rolling
Speaker 1: Stone writer and One Direction fan, Larissa Paul, wrote, the
Speaker 1: version of One Direction that we have all held on
Speaker 1: to hasn't existed for quite some time. It lives forever
Speaker 1: only in the sense that it lives within all of us,
Speaker 1: but the reality of their true impermanence has left us
Speaker 1: with even more ghost to grieve in the wake of
Speaker 1: Liam's death, and I think that sums it up really well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's crazy to think that it's been eight years since
Speaker 1: the band broke up, and it just feels like so
Speaker 1: many famous bands recently have returned to perform on stage
Speaker 1: together because at the moment, we're experiencing this real nostalgia
Speaker 1: and we're seeing these huge performers coming back, and Oasis.
Speaker 2: You never expect that they would return.
Speaker 1: So I just think that everyone is not only grieving Liam,
Speaker 1: but they're also grieving the fact that One Direction is
Speaker 1: never going to come back together and never be complete. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and a lot of directioners are looking at the music
Speaker 1: for signs. So at the end of the band's last
Speaker 1: single History, the boys eerily seeing so don't let me go.
Speaker 2: We can live forever.
Speaker 1: I have been listening to One Direction NonStop in the
Speaker 1: car and it's bringing me sadness.
Speaker 2: But also a lot of joy.
Speaker 1: See, I haven't been able to listen to it, but
Speaker 1: I've got it in my head, probably from a lot
Speaker 1: of the tiktoks that haven't playing in the background. It
Speaker 1: is just so heartbreaking. It does feel like a piece
Speaker 1: of your childhood is dying. I mean, we were probably
Speaker 1: twenty five, at the peak of their popularity, but I
Speaker 1: do fondly remember their concert and I'm always someone that
Speaker 1: buys into that hype around celebrities, and for many young fans,
Speaker 1: it's the first celebrity that they have loved that has died,
Speaker 1: or even the first person that they know, be it
Speaker 1: from a parasocial relationship that has passed away. You really
Speaker 1: do grieve these relationships. And a lot of people have
Speaker 1: compared the death to that of John Lennon from the Beatles,
Speaker 1: and when you love a band or a musician, you
Speaker 1: really do attach your own life experiences to their music,
Speaker 1: and a lot of people are probably thinking, well, now
Speaker 1: that they're gone, it feels like those experiences are over
Speaker 1: to A lot of people were saying I should be
Speaker 1: experiencing this when I mean my fifties and sixties, not
Speaker 1: when I'm in my twenties. I'm actually feeling more sad
Speaker 1: than I did when we started, because it's really sad
Speaker 1: to rehash all of the complexities of this death. At
Speaker 1: the end of the day, Liam was a real person
Speaker 1: who has a son, who has a family, I mean
Speaker 1: seeing his dad going to his hotel. I recently read
Speaker 1: the message that his sister wrote to him on Instagram.
Speaker 1: He was a young boy that was plucked from obscurity
Speaker 1: at seventeen, and it's hard not to consider that if
Speaker 1: he hadn't been a part of One Direction, would he
Speaker 1: have lost his life at such a young age. I mean,
Speaker 1: everyone always says that they want to grow up famous
Speaker 1: and rich, but he literally had it all but had
Speaker 1: nothing at the same time, fame really impacted him. I
Speaker 1: saw an interview he did and he was talking about
Speaker 1: how it scared him so much that his son Bear
Speaker 1: said that he.
Speaker 2: Wanted to perform on stage with him and be famous.
Speaker 1: Because for Liam that would be his absolute worst nightmare
Speaker 1: because the fame really damaged him. And what is also
Speaker 1: so sad is that there is just so much guilt
Speaker 1: being felt by so many people. I think that his
Speaker 1: family would feel guilt for getting him into something so young,
Speaker 1: and all I could think about was his mum. In
Speaker 1: the movie, she bought a cardboard cutout of Liam and
Speaker 1: put him in her room because she said she missed
Speaker 1: having him at home. So it's not only grief that
Speaker 1: the family of feeling now that he's gone, but all
Speaker 1: of those years that they missed out on having their
Speaker 1: boy at home. It's going to be really interesting to
Speaker 1: see what happens in the next few weeks when the
Speaker 1: cause of Liam's death is confirmed, and whether there is
Speaker 1: more investigations done into the way that the hotel staff
Speaker 1: acted during his stay. We also are going to potentially
Speaker 1: see a public funeral play out, and I've seen so
Speaker 1: many people saying that it is just so depressing that
Speaker 1: the last time all of the boys are going to
Speaker 1: be in the same room together is at Liam's funeral,
Speaker 1: and it's not the reunion everyone thought we were going
Speaker 1: to get. That is a really tough note to end
Speaker 1: things on now. If anyone is ruggling, Lifeline are available.
Speaker 1: Their number is thirteen eleven fourteen. We will return to
Speaker 1: our regular episodes on Thursday, where you can get all
Speaker 1: of the latest influencer news.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for listening.
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Speaker 1: a review. This podcast was recorded on the traditional land
Speaker 1: of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Plains.
Speaker 2: We pay respect to Elder's past in present