Liam Payne says alcohol helped him cope with One Direction fame
One Direction swiftly became one of the biggest boy bands of all time following their stint on The X Factor. Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Zayn Malik lives were transformed overnight.
Fans followed them everywhere they went, their songs took over the charts and their names were known all across the globe.
They were living the dream, but former member Liam Payne has now revealed it wasn’t all it fun and games.
In an interview with Men’s Health, the Strip That Down singer said he had to drink to cope with the sheer level of fame they were experiencing.
He explained that there were many moments when he couldn’t quite wrap his head around what was happening to him.
“When you’re doing hundreds and hundreds of [concerts] and it’s the same 22 songs at the same time every single day, even if you’re not happy, you’ve got to go out there,” he shared.
“It’s almost like putting the Disney costume on before you step up on stage and underneath the Disney costume I was pissed quite a lot of the time because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on. I mean it was fun. We had an absolute blast but there were certain parts of it where it just got a little bit toxic.”
“It’s difficult when you have the level of fame that we had in the band. There have been a lot of people in trouble with mental health that aren’t really getting the help that they need and I think that’s a bit of a problem in our industry.”
The singer admitted he never felt in control during his time in One Direction and that is something he continues to fight with.
“I still struggle with it now. I really struggle to say no because I don’t like to let people down. It’s in my nature,” the For You singer concluded.
