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Liam Payne's Complicated Legacy · Outspoken the Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Before we get into the episode, we want to issue
0:02
Speaker 1: a trigger warning. We touch on themes around suicide and
0:05
Speaker 1: drug use. Hello and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose
0:16
Speaker 1: of the hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week.
0:20
Speaker 1: I'm Sophie Torber. I'm Amy Torber. And I'm Kate Torber.
0:23
Speaker 1: It is so exciting to finally be back after maternity leave.
0:26
Speaker 1: It's been 18 weeks. It's good to have you back.
0:29
Speaker 1: And it feels very nostalgic because we have decided to
0:32
Speaker 1: move back to the original OG room, which we recorded
0:35
Speaker 1: in before you went on maternity leave. Yeah, you guys
0:37
Speaker 1: were all over the place. I used to watch the
0:39
Speaker 1: videos on Instagram and be like, what room are they
0:41
Speaker 1: recording in at the moment? It is weird to be back.
0:44
Speaker 1: I didn't think I would be away for so long
0:46
Speaker 1: because I had this vision in my head that it
0:48
Speaker 1: would be really easy to bring a newborn baby around
0:51
Speaker 1: with me to recordings and stuff. And I quickly learned
0:54
Speaker 1: that no, it wasn't. And I definitely don't think that
0:56
Speaker 1: you expected this to be the episode to be returning
0:59
Speaker 1: on because as news broke last week of the sudden
1:02
Speaker 1: passing of former One Direction singer Liam Payne, we quickly
1:05
Speaker 1: decided that we wanted to investigate this very late and
1:08
Speaker 1: devastating story. We would consider ourselves One Direction fans. We
1:12
Speaker 1: went to their concert in Adelaide. It was incredible. But
1:15
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say we were part of the fandom. We
1:17
Speaker 1: didn't have Twitter accounts. I think we were too old
1:19
Speaker 1: to be part of the fandom. I definitely think if
1:21
Speaker 1: I was a teenager at the time, I could see
1:23
Speaker 1: myself getting involved very heavily on all of the Twitter
1:27
Speaker 1: action and also even taking part in writing the different
1:31
Speaker 1: fiction books. You would not have written fan fiction, surely.
1:34
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, I love writing as a teenager.
1:37
Speaker 1: I could see myself, particularly if I lived in the UK,
1:39
Speaker 1: being swept up in that. And I think that's why
1:41
Speaker 1: there are so many complex feelings around Liam's death, because
1:45
Speaker 1: For so many people, he represented such a magical part
1:49
Speaker 1: of their teenage years, but some people just can't move
1:52
Speaker 1: past the recent allegations made by his ex-fiance, Maya Henry. Yeah,
1:57
Speaker 1: because a week before the fatal fall, Maya issued Liam
2:00
Speaker 1: with a cease and desist letter, and she also appeared
2:04
Speaker 1: on a podcast detailing the alleged abuse that she suffered
2:07
Speaker 1: at the hands of Liam. We are going to be
2:09
Speaker 1: touching on that later in today's episode, but I think
2:12
Speaker 1: that this just adds to the complexity around fans' feelings.
2:16
Speaker 1: You kind of don't know what to feel at the moment. Yeah,
2:19
Speaker 1: and TikTok is a very divisive place at the best
2:22
Speaker 1: of times, but particularly for One Direction fans at the
2:25
Speaker 1: moment because I don't know about you guys, but my
2:27
Speaker 1: For You page has just been all about Liam. I'm
2:30
Speaker 1: having his girlfriend Kate Cassidy's TikToks popping up everywhere I look.
2:35
Speaker 1: And there are a lot of One Direction fans sharing
2:37
Speaker 1: their grief and how they're mourning. And the comment section
2:40
Speaker 1: is just so brutal because there are the people that
2:42
Speaker 1: are saying, oh, he's a horrible person because of these allegations.
2:46
Speaker 1: And then there are other people who are idolizing him
2:49
Speaker 1: even more now that he's passed. And this story has
2:51
Speaker 1: been moving so quickly over the weekend. And with the
2:54
Speaker 1: way that the social media algorithm works, not everyone is
2:58
Speaker 1: getting the full picture. There's been so much speculation and
3:01
Speaker 1: a lot of conspiracy theories, which is why we want
3:04
Speaker 1: to discuss the news that has come to light since
3:07
Speaker 1: his death in a very nuanced way. So let's get
3:10
Speaker 1: into it from the start. So as we know, on
3:12
Speaker 1: October 16th, Liam Payne tragically died after falling from the
3:16
Speaker 1: third floor of his hotel balcony in Buenos Aires. Now,
3:19
Speaker 1: in the hours prior to his death, Liam was said
3:22
Speaker 1: to be acting erratically in the hotel lobby and appeared
3:24
Speaker 1: to be under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Witnesses
3:28
Speaker 1: say he was seen arguing with a woman about money
3:30
Speaker 1: and he also smashed his laptop. An American guest spoke
3:33
Speaker 1: to the media about his encounter with Liam that day
3:36
Speaker 1: saying this.
3:38
Speaker 2: We had multiple encounters with Liam. Multiple times had come
3:42
Speaker 2: down to the lobby, was causing a disturbance, kept being
3:46
Speaker 2: escorted back up to his room. There was an incident
3:50
Speaker 2: where he was smashing his laptop in the lobby. And
3:53
Speaker 2: then the final time he came back down, he actually
3:56
Speaker 2: passed out in the lobby of the hotel, started convulsing
4:00
Speaker 2: a little bit and had to be physically taken back
4:03
Speaker 2: up to his room. And that was about five minutes
4:06
Speaker 2: before the eventual incident.
4:08
Speaker 1: Now, as you heard there, hotel staff physically escorted Liam
4:12
Speaker 1: back to the suite he was staying in, leaving him
4:14
Speaker 1: alone in the room, which had a balcony overlooking an
4:17
Speaker 1: internal courtyard and pool. Local police said they received calls
4:21
Speaker 1: from hotel staff asking for help with an aggressive man
4:24
Speaker 1: who could be under the effects of drugs and alcohol.
4:27
Speaker 1: In audio obtained by the media, the hotel worker told police,
4:31
Speaker 1: when he is conscious, he is destroying the entire room
4:34
Speaker 1: and we need you to send someone. They added that
4:37
Speaker 1: the guest's life was at risk because his room had
4:39
Speaker 1: a balcony. Now, when police arrived, Liam had already fallen
4:43
Speaker 1: 14 meters to his death. This is just so horrifying.
4:47
Speaker 1: And what does not sit well with me is why
4:50
Speaker 1: Liam was left alone in this hotel room. Because It
4:53
Speaker 1: is clear that he was severely under the influence of
4:56
Speaker 1: drugs and he was having some sort of episode. I
4:59
Speaker 1: just think it's disturbing because as we heard from that
5:01
Speaker 1: witness's account, he was convulsing and then collapsed in the lobby.
5:05
Speaker 1: And instead of waiting with him and getting him medical care,
5:09
Speaker 1: they physically took him back up to his room and
5:11
Speaker 1: then left him there by himself. And it is very
5:14
Speaker 1: clear from hearing this audio recording that the balcony was
5:17
Speaker 1: a big concern of theirs, yet they left him alone.
5:21
Speaker 1: I do wonder if there was a patron of the
5:23
Speaker 1: hotel acting in this way that wasn't a celebrity, if
5:27
Speaker 1: this is how the hotel would have responded, because I
5:29
Speaker 1: really do think Liam's fame had something to do with
5:32
Speaker 1: the way they managed this crisis. I'm wondering if they
5:35
Speaker 1: didn't want to attract any negative attention or media around
5:39
Speaker 1: the way that they handled him. I also think it
5:42
Speaker 1: has to do with how he obtained the drugs, which
5:45
Speaker 1: we are going to talk about later in the episode.
5:47
Speaker 1: What adds an extra layer to this situation is that
5:50
Speaker 1: at the height of his fame with One Direction, Liam
5:53
Speaker 1: said he was often locked in a hotel room due
5:55
Speaker 1: to the craziness that surrounded the band. And in a
5:58
Speaker 1: 2021 interview with Stephen Bartlett from the Diary of a CEO,
6:02
Speaker 1: Liam said it left him feeling lonely and trapped. Let's
6:05
Speaker 1: have a listen to what he said.
6:07
Speaker 3: My dad said it from day one, lonely hotel rooms, man.
6:09
Speaker 3: Getting locked in that room is not fun. The problem
6:11
Speaker 3: we had in the band, and I don't blame.
6:13
Speaker 1: Anybody for this.
6:13
Speaker 3: I don't want to seem like I'm whining or moaning.
6:15
Speaker 3: Oh my God, look at my life.
6:16
Speaker 4: Whatever.
6:17
Speaker 3: But it feels to me like when we were in
6:18
Speaker 3: the band, the best way to secure us because of
6:20
Speaker 3: how big it got was just lock us in our rooms.
6:23
Speaker 3: And of course, what's in the room?
6:24
Speaker 1: Mini bar.
6:25
Speaker 3: So at a certain point, I thought, well, I'm going
6:27
Speaker 3: to have a party for one. And that just seemed
6:28
Speaker 3: to carry on throughout many years of my life. And
6:31
Speaker 3: then you look back how long you've been drinking and
6:33
Speaker 3: stuff like, Jesus Christ, that's a long time. Even for
6:35
Speaker 3: someone who's, you know, as young as I was. It
6:38
Speaker 3: was wild. But it was like the only way you
6:41
Speaker 3: could get frustration out in the day or being like trapped. And,
6:45
Speaker 3: you know, I spoke about to somebody about this and
6:48
Speaker 3: in child development, you know, as a teen, the one
6:50
Speaker 3: thing you need is freedom to make choices and freedom
6:53
Speaker 3: to do stuff. And it was the one thing that,
6:54
Speaker 3: although we could do anything we wanted, it seemed from
6:56
Speaker 3: the outside that we were always locked in a room
6:59
Speaker 3: at night. And then it would be car, hotel room, stage, sing, locked.
7:03
Speaker 3: So it was like they pulled the dust cloth off,
7:05
Speaker 3: let us out for a minute. And then it's like
7:07
Speaker 3: back underneath here. And I'm like, good.
7:10
Speaker 1: It's interesting that it was easier for them to just
7:12
Speaker 1: lock the boys in a room rather than dealing with
7:14
Speaker 1: the chaos outside. I think it was more about controlling them. Yeah,
7:18
Speaker 1: and it's fascinating that they were in a hotel room
7:20
Speaker 1: by themselves, that they didn't have them bunking in with
7:23
Speaker 1: the other band members, probably because they knew that at
7:25
Speaker 1: that age, fights can break out. Well, there were a
7:28
Speaker 1: lot of fights. We've learned about how the boys didn't
7:32
Speaker 1: really all get along. And maybe that was at a
7:34
Speaker 1: time when they couldn't all be in a room together.
7:36
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, I think a lot of One Direction
7:38
Speaker 1: fans had this fantasy that they were all best friends.
7:41
Speaker 1: But with any random teenagers being put together, there's always
7:45
Speaker 1: going to be arguments, particularly when you have that level
7:48
Speaker 1: of fame and you're in an environment that's not normal.
7:50
Speaker 1: There have been a lot of eerie clips that have
7:52
Speaker 1: been resurfacing since Liam's death. One of them that I
7:55
Speaker 1: keep thinking about is in this clip where he spoke
7:58
Speaker 1: about the pranks that he would pull whilst he was
8:00
Speaker 1: on tour. And in one of them, he scaled down
8:03
Speaker 1: a rooftop to escape security. Let's throw to what he said.
8:07
Speaker 3: We then got really drunk and started having this big
8:10
Speaker 3: water fight.
8:11
Speaker 5: But it was like, it was.
8:12
Speaker 6: During the time of like the ice bucket challenge and
8:14
Speaker 6: everyone's turning like whatever.
8:15
Speaker 5: Anyway, me and I want to say Louis, but I
8:18
Speaker 5: could be wrong.
8:19
Speaker 7: I like wet paper towel in whatever.
8:22
Speaker 3: With this in mind, it's really not surprising that in
8:23
Speaker 3: the first 24 hours.
8:24
Speaker 6: After his death, some fans were convinced that Liam was
8:27
Speaker 6: attempting to jump from his balcony into the pool. So
8:29
Speaker 6: he was staying in a hotel suite on the.
8:31
Speaker 7: Third floor, which had a balcony looking out to the
8:33
Speaker 7: communal pool area.
8:51
Speaker 1: And rumors started circulating on TikTok that Liam had been
8:54
Speaker 1: denied access to the pool by staff due to his
8:57
Speaker 1: very intoxicated state. So once he was locked away in
9:01
Speaker 1: his room, the theory was that he attempted to jump
9:04
Speaker 1: into the pool from his balcony and he fell short
9:07
Speaker 1: because his body was found very close to the swimming pool.
9:10
Speaker 1: I think this theory arose because a lot of One
9:12
Speaker 1: Direction fans are grappling, obviously, with this news and trying
9:16
Speaker 1: to make sense of why he died and how. And
9:20
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't want to consider that potentially
9:22
Speaker 1: it could have been suicide. So they're thinking, well, he's
9:24
Speaker 1: a fun guy. Maybe he was just jumping into the pool.
9:27
Speaker 1: I think we need to get into what he was
9:29
Speaker 1: actually doing in Argentina. So he was there earlier in
9:33
Speaker 1: the month with his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, to attend his
9:36
Speaker 1: former bandmate Niall Horan's concert. And before departing for Argentina,
9:40
Speaker 1: Liam posted a Snapchat saying he was attending the concert
9:43
Speaker 1: as he wanted to square up a couple of things
9:45
Speaker 1: with Niall.
9:47
Speaker 6: Yeah, so today I am going to... South America! Argentine! Argentina.
9:56
Speaker 6: Te amo, Argentina. Argentina. going to Argentina. One, because we
10:04
Speaker 6: have to. And two, because we want to. And three,
10:08
Speaker 6: because Niall Horan's playing down there. And I think we
10:12
Speaker 6: might just go and say, hello. It's been a while
10:16
Speaker 6: since me and Niall have spoken. We've got a lot
10:20
Speaker 6: to talk about. And I would like to square up
10:26
Speaker 6: a couple of things with the boy. No bad vibes
10:29
Speaker 6: or anything like that, but just we need to talk.
10:33
Speaker 1: Liam's behavior at Niall's concert raised a lot of eyebrows
10:37
Speaker 1: and a lot of the clips of him there actually
10:39
Speaker 1: went viral on TikTok. So there were clips of him
10:42
Speaker 1: singing along to Niall's songs and almost doing his own
10:45
Speaker 1: meet and greet with fans. And he was accused of
10:48
Speaker 1: trying to steal attention away from Niall. And fans began
10:52
Speaker 1: comparing the way that Liam behaved at the concert to
10:55
Speaker 1: how Harry Styles behaved at a recent concert back in August.
10:58
Speaker 1: So while Harry was at Niall's concert, he appeared in
11:02
Speaker 1: the backstage area and he ducked out before too many
11:04
Speaker 1: people noticed him, Whereas Liam appeared to be lapping up
11:07
Speaker 1: all of the attention and he was very front and
11:09
Speaker 1: center in the box. I think that's such an unfair
11:12
Speaker 1: comparison when you do consider Liam's fame compared to Harry Styles' fame.
11:16
Speaker 1: I don't think Harry Styles could have sat in a box. Yeah. Well,
11:19
Speaker 1: the day before Liam died, I remember looking on TikTok
11:22
Speaker 1: and there were so many people recreating his moment and
11:25
Speaker 1: poking fun at him. And he started to be branded
11:28
Speaker 1: as cringe and he was slammed for acting really awkward.
11:31
Speaker 1: But It seems like a lot of fans think that
11:34
Speaker 1: this may have been a cry for help. And one
11:36
Speaker 1: user wrote he wasn't stealing attention. He was saying goodbye.
11:40
Speaker 1: That is so sad. Now, what has led to even
11:43
Speaker 1: more fascination in this story is that Liam's girlfriend, Kate Cassidy,
11:47
Speaker 1: is an American TikToker who was documenting the trip at
11:50
Speaker 1: the time. So before Liam's death, Kate originally had 40,000
11:55
Speaker 1: followers on Instagram and around 200,000 on TikTok. It's quite
11:59
Speaker 1: eerie because one of her TikToks actually popped up for
12:02
Speaker 1: me a week before he died. And I'm like, I
12:04
Speaker 1: haven't seen Liam Payne for so long. Yeah, because he
12:06
Speaker 1: kept being in these random TikToks where he was doing
12:09
Speaker 1: fit checks and he just looked like he was playing
12:12
Speaker 1: the doting boyfriend part really well. Well, one of those
12:15
Speaker 1: fit checks in particular actually worried a lot of fans
12:18
Speaker 1: because He kept popping in and out of the frame
12:21
Speaker 1: and she kept saying like, tell them what you're wearing.
12:24
Speaker 1: And he was just being very aloof and people are like,
12:26
Speaker 1: is he okay? Now, since Liam's death, Kate Cassidy has
12:31
Speaker 1: had an influx of followers. She now has 648,000 on
12:33
Speaker 1: Instagram and nearly 1 million on TikTok. So I actually
12:39
Speaker 1: thought this was a new relationship, but they've been together
12:41
Speaker 1: since October, 2022. They were first spotted attending a Halloween
12:45
Speaker 1: party dressed as Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. Did you
12:48
Speaker 1: realize that they met because she was a waitress at
12:51
Speaker 1: a restaurant he was at? No. Isn't that like everyone's
12:54
Speaker 1: dream to meet someone famous like that? Well, that makes
12:57
Speaker 1: a lot of sense because I think a lot of
12:59
Speaker 1: One Direction fans would have wished something like that would
13:01
Speaker 1: happen to them. And Liam actually ended up sharing some
13:05
Speaker 1: troll messages he got about Kate when they first started dating.
13:08
Speaker 1: So someone accused Kate of only being with him for
13:11
Speaker 1: his money. And he responded publicly on his Instagram story writing,
13:15
Speaker 1: gotta say you could tell me anything and I couldn't
13:17
Speaker 1: be turned. I've never felt a love like I do
13:20
Speaker 1: for Caitlin. We make each other better people. If it
13:23
Speaker 1: was just for the money, I'd give her all of it.
13:25
Speaker 1: It's not though. Please remember I'm hella sexy. And I
13:28
Speaker 1: know I'm fun and a lovable person. And I don't
13:30
Speaker 1: give a fuck to say that for the first time
13:32
Speaker 1: in my life, I'm happy to be me. And that's priceless. Now,
13:36
Speaker 1: the couple have been spending time between London and Florida.
13:40
Speaker 1: And recently, Kate documented them moving into this new mansion
13:43
Speaker 1: in Florida. She did a full house tour. It's just
13:46
Speaker 1: so eerie looking back at these TikToks. Yeah, and they
13:49
Speaker 1: also recently adopted a rescue dog together. And in one
13:53
Speaker 1: of Liam's last Snapchat stories, which actually was put up
13:56
Speaker 1: an hour before his death, he spoke about how he
13:58
Speaker 1: was looking forward to getting home to his dog, Nala. Well,
14:01
Speaker 1: Kate actually left the trip early to get back to
14:04
Speaker 1: their dog. So the media are reporting that Liam allegedly
14:07
Speaker 1: pleaded with her to stay in Argentina with him. And
14:10
Speaker 1: an apparent friend of the influencer told the Post, Liam
14:14
Speaker 1: didn't want Kate to leave Argentina. He wanted her to stay.
14:17
Speaker 1: She says he begged her to stay. Now, the source
14:20
Speaker 1: also said that the argument was actually a little more
14:23
Speaker 1: heated than you'd think. The sad thing is they were
14:25
Speaker 1: only supposed to be in Argentina for five days, but
14:28
Speaker 1: Liam was forced to extend the trip to two weeks
14:31
Speaker 1: because his US visa application was rejected. In order to
14:35
Speaker 1: renew his immigration visa, Liam had to travel abroad. So
14:39
Speaker 1: a close friend said that that's why he chose to
14:41
Speaker 1: fly to Argentina because he could watch Niles' performance and
14:45
Speaker 1: then also make his visa application at the US embassy
14:48
Speaker 1: in Argentina. And that visa was initially refused because Liam
14:52
Speaker 1: owned up to the fact that he had abused drugs
14:54
Speaker 1: and alcohol in the past. And the only way to
14:57
Speaker 1: get the embassy to reconsider his application was if he
15:01
Speaker 1: underwent psychiatric and medical testing, which he did, which pushed
15:05
Speaker 1: out the length of their trip. His friend told the
15:07
Speaker 1: Daily Mail that he passed all the medical and psychiatric testing,
15:11
Speaker 1: but actually passed away before he could have his passport
15:14
Speaker 1: stamped and the visa renewed. It's really sad because Kate
15:17
Speaker 1: ended up leaving Argentina two days before Liam died, and
15:21
Speaker 1: she ended up documenting her trip home on TikTok. And
15:24
Speaker 1: I feel like that adds a whole layer to this
15:26
Speaker 1: story because I've never known a celebrity death where you
15:29
Speaker 1: can actually go back and and watch almost in real
15:33
Speaker 1: time unfolding. It's just so weird to be able to
15:36
Speaker 1: see the footage of them leaving for the trip and
15:39
Speaker 1: then her on her way back home. And which is
15:41
Speaker 1: clearly why her TikTok has blown up. I mean, her
15:43
Speaker 1: videos are getting over 20 million views. Now, Kate said
15:47
Speaker 1: that she'd been seated in seat 1D. That's crazy. Yeah,
15:50
Speaker 1: she said it happens quite a lot, which means that
15:52
Speaker 1: she travels at the front of the plane. She also
15:55
Speaker 1: said that she'd left her Squishmallow with Liam. And she
15:58
Speaker 1: told her followers that she was so ready to leave
16:01
Speaker 1: and went on to say, honestly, I love South America,
16:04
Speaker 1: but I hate staying in one place for too long.
16:06
Speaker 1: There was also a deleted Snapchat where Liam teased Kate
16:10
Speaker 1: about leaving him in Argentina. So he said, so it's
16:13
Speaker 1: going to be a nice day and then you're going home. Haha, loser, weirdo. Apparently,
16:17
Speaker 1: Kate ended up booking herself a ticket home because Liam
16:20
Speaker 1: couldn't tell her when he'd be ready to leave. And
16:22
Speaker 1: it was clear that she really wanted to get back
16:24
Speaker 1: home and in her routine. And the apparent source said
16:27
Speaker 1: that he was really unhappy about that. He made sure
16:30
Speaker 1: that she knew that. Reading the quotes that this source
16:33
Speaker 1: gave the media, it does appear like Liam and Kate
16:36
Speaker 1: were having a big argument before she left. However, they
16:39
Speaker 1: did push that the couple weren't having trouble, but it
16:42
Speaker 1: doesn't really match up to other news that has surfaced
16:46
Speaker 1: since Liam's passing because it was reported that two sex
16:49
Speaker 1: workers actually went to Liam's room hours before his death.
16:53
Speaker 1: And apparently the source said that Kate was still grappling
16:57
Speaker 1: with that information. She did release a statement following Liam's death,
17:01
Speaker 1: which said, I have been at a complete loss. Nothing
17:03
Speaker 1: about the past few days has felt real. And we
17:06
Speaker 1: will be going into the claims about the sex workers
17:08
Speaker 1: a little bit later in this episode. But as I
17:10
Speaker 1: touched on, it was really eerie because an hour before
17:13
Speaker 1: Liam passed away, videos were still being uploaded to his
17:16
Speaker 1: Snapchat story. And I'm guessing that the videos had been
17:19
Speaker 1: scheduled in by an employee because it showed his last
17:23
Speaker 1: few days with Kate in Argentina. And in the video,
17:26
Speaker 1: Liam wasn't staying at the hotel, but he was staying
17:29
Speaker 1: at their friend Joan's mansion. And these Snapchats initially led
17:33
Speaker 1: to a lot of confusion because people were trying to
17:35
Speaker 1: piece it all together. They're like, this mustn't be true
17:37
Speaker 1: because he's staying at a friend's house. He's not even
17:39
Speaker 1: at a hotel. Yeah, it definitely added to the speculation
17:43
Speaker 1: and conspiracy theories that maybe he had not passed away.
17:46
Speaker 1: And it was TMZ who was the first media outlet
17:49
Speaker 1: to break the news of Liam's death. And they chose
17:52
Speaker 1: to prove the validity of their story by posting a
17:55
Speaker 1: very graphic photo of Liam's body on the hotel deck.
17:59
Speaker 1: Now in the photo, Liam's distinctive tattoos were shown on
18:03
Speaker 1: his arm and any readers who clicked on an alert
18:06
Speaker 1: sent out by TMZ, whether it was a tweet or
18:08
Speaker 1: even a link shared via a text message, they were
18:11
Speaker 1: met with the gruesome images. It just horrifies me that
18:15
Speaker 1: media still act in this way. The family probably didn't
18:19
Speaker 1: even know about the news and they're reporting pictures of
18:23
Speaker 1: Liam's dead body. That is just horrific to think that
18:26
Speaker 1: the family potentially could have found out that way and
18:29
Speaker 1: have seen the imagery. It just is so disturbing. From
18:32
Speaker 1: someone who's worked in a newsroom, I understand that journalists
18:35
Speaker 1: need proof to firm up a story in order for
18:38
Speaker 1: them to go to print with the breaking news. However,
18:41
Speaker 1: I don't understand why the photos ever had to see
18:43
Speaker 1: the light of day, because if they were cited by
18:45
Speaker 1: TMZ's editorial team, that gave them the proof to accurately
18:49
Speaker 1: break the news. There was no need for anyone else
18:51
Speaker 1: to see the photos at all. I completely agree. And
18:54
Speaker 1: it's not the first time TMZ has actually done something
18:56
Speaker 1: like this. So Back when Kobe Bryant and his daughter
18:59
Speaker 1: passed away in a helicopter crash in January 2020, TMZ
19:03
Speaker 1: shared the news before police were able to notify his family. Now,
19:07
Speaker 1: Vanessa Bryant later testified in court that she learned of
19:10
Speaker 1: her husband and daughter's death through social media. Thankfully, these
19:14
Speaker 1: photos were removed on TMZ's website after a lot of backlash.
19:19
Speaker 1: But what's really scary is that new photos are popping
19:22
Speaker 1: up all over Twitter. So I've seen a lot of
19:24
Speaker 1: people creating TikTok videos warning people not to click on
19:28
Speaker 1: these images because there's apparently so many of them. I
19:32
Speaker 1: assume that they were taken by hotel staff and guests
19:35
Speaker 1: and they've just been doing the rounds. It just, I
19:37
Speaker 1: don't want to see any of those images. Like something
19:40
Speaker 1: like that really does stay with you. And to think
19:43
Speaker 1: about all of the young kids online that could potentially
19:45
Speaker 1: be seeing these images. Because there's this gross fascination, like fascination.
19:50
Speaker 1: for some reason when I heard that these images were
19:52
Speaker 1: out there I almost wanted to look at them to
19:55
Speaker 1: know that it was true as well it's a weird
19:58
Speaker 1: thing about being desensitized to these sorts of graphic imagery
20:02
Speaker 1: but it's just such a disgusting invasion of someone's privacy
20:05
Speaker 1: I mean it's He has clearly been hounded by the
20:07
Speaker 1: paparazzi during the height of his fame, and now he
20:11
Speaker 1: can't even die peacefully. There's people taking photos of his body.
20:14
Speaker 1: It kind of reminds me of when Princess Diana died,
20:17
Speaker 1: and there were paparazzi literally taking photos of her dying
20:20
Speaker 1: instead of getting her help. Now, a day after his death,
20:24
Speaker 1: authorities released Liam's preliminary autopsy results, which showed he died
20:28
Speaker 1: from multiple injuries sustained from the fall, which led to
20:32
Speaker 1: internal and external bleeding and a fractured skull. 25 injuries
20:37
Speaker 1: were reported, including to the skull, abdomen and limbs. Now,
20:41
Speaker 1: the investigators suspect that Liam was partially or fully unconscious
20:45
Speaker 1: when he fell from the balcony due to the position
20:47
Speaker 1: in which his body was found. And also the fact
20:50
Speaker 1: that he had no signs of defensive wounds on his hands. Yeah,
20:54
Speaker 1: because when you fall, you have this automatic reflex action.
20:58
Speaker 1: So your brain will basically tell your hands and arms
21:01
Speaker 1: to reach out to try and break your fall. And
21:04
Speaker 1: in this case, the autopsy results show that he did
21:06
Speaker 1: not adopt a reflex posture to protect himself. And the
21:10
Speaker 1: report also noted that there were no signs of a
21:12
Speaker 1: fight and confirmed that Liam was alone in his hotel
21:15
Speaker 1: room at the time of his fall. There is heartbreaking
21:18
Speaker 1: vision doing the rounds on media and social media at
21:20
Speaker 1: the moment of Liam's father, Jeff, visiting the hotel room.
21:25
Speaker 1: My heart dropped when I saw it because there is
21:27
Speaker 1: this shot of him leaning against the balcony rail to
21:32
Speaker 1: see how Liam could have fallen, like trying to work out,
21:35
Speaker 1: was it an accident? Yeah. And in the video, he
21:38
Speaker 1: tries to fall from backwards as well as forwards. And again,
21:42
Speaker 1: these are images that we shouldn't have access to. But again,
21:48
Speaker 1: they're ones that you just can't look away from. Yeah. Well,
21:50
Speaker 1: back to the autopsy. While the report said the injuries
21:53
Speaker 1: were enough to cause Liam's death, prosecutors are describing the
21:56
Speaker 1: case as suspicious. And the exact cause of death is
21:59
Speaker 1: still under investigation. So at the time, this was because
22:03
Speaker 1: of the likelihood that Liam had been drinking alcohol and
22:06
Speaker 1: taking drugs that day. Now, the prosecutor's office requested additional exams,
22:10
Speaker 1: including a toxicology report. And over the weekend, police told
22:14
Speaker 1: TMZ that they believed Liam was under the influence of crystal,
22:17
Speaker 1: which is a drug known to cause psychotic attacks and hallucinations.
22:22
Speaker 1: It's also known to make people very aggressive. It's very
22:25
Speaker 1: unusual in Australia for police to give direct quotes like
22:28
Speaker 1: that to the media outlets, particularly TMZ. But in Argentina,
22:32
Speaker 1: this is not clearly the case. It does really paint
22:35
Speaker 1: a new idea of what went on. So it sounds
22:37
Speaker 1: like Liam may have been under the influence and been hallucinating,
22:41
Speaker 1: which caused him to then jump maybe thinking he was
22:44
Speaker 1: jumping into the pool or jumping into something. Or to
22:46
Speaker 1: just fall from the balcony because he didn't know what
22:48
Speaker 1: he was doing. Now, in new claims, it's being reported
22:51
Speaker 1: that investigators believe a hotel employee may have sourced the
22:55
Speaker 1: drugs for Liam before his fall. Now, in another invasion
23:00
Speaker 1: of Liam's privacy, the media were quick to publish images
23:03
Speaker 1: inside his hotel room. So the photo showed a smashed
23:06
Speaker 1: up TV, a half empty wine glass, white powder all
23:10
Speaker 1: over the suite, as well as foil, which was scattered
23:13
Speaker 1: throughout the hotel room. There was also a Dove soap
23:16
Speaker 1: box packet and the remains of a burnt top of
23:19
Speaker 1: a drink can, which was scattered also across the room.
23:22
Speaker 1: For someone who does not do drugs, I was like,
23:24
Speaker 1: what is the significance of the soap and also of
23:28
Speaker 1: the alfoil? Well, in terms of the soap, a theory
23:31
Speaker 1: on TikTok is that maybe a hotel worker was transported
23:35
Speaker 1: the drugs in the Dove soapbox to disguise it. Now,
23:39
Speaker 1: the drug clonazepam was also found in Liam's suite, which
23:42
Speaker 1: is often used to control epilepsy, involuntary spasms, and also
23:46
Speaker 1: panic disorders. Now, disturbingly, these images were believed to have
23:51
Speaker 1: been released by authorities. And again, this would never happen
23:54
Speaker 1: in Australia or the US, but apparently it is common
23:57
Speaker 1: practice in Argentina because They don't uphold the same standards
24:01
Speaker 1: to privacy as other countries do. Liam has been very
24:04
Speaker 1: open with his fans and also the media about his
24:06
Speaker 1: struggles with addiction, anxiety, and also suicidal thoughts. During an
24:11
Speaker 1: interview in 2019, Liam admitted that he was still lucky
24:15
Speaker 1: to be here. And it's something he said he had
24:17
Speaker 1: never spoken about with people before. Liam has been open
24:21
Speaker 1: about his journey with alcohol as well. So he initially
24:24
Speaker 1: started drinking to help him deal with processing alcohol. the
24:27
Speaker 1: fame from one direction. And he said, it's almost like
24:30
Speaker 1: putting the Disney costume on before you step up on stage.
24:33
Speaker 1: And underneath the Disney costume, I was pissed quite a
24:36
Speaker 1: lot of the time because there was no other way
24:38
Speaker 1: to get your head around what was going on. I mean,
24:40
Speaker 1: it was fun. We had an absolute blast, but there
24:42
Speaker 1: were certain parts of it where it just got a
24:44
Speaker 1: little bit toxic. In July last year, he also shared
24:47
Speaker 1: a video to YouTube revealing he had a 100 day
24:50
Speaker 1: stint in rehab. Let's have a listen to what he said.
24:54
Speaker 7: I just took a little bit of time out, actually.
24:55
Speaker 7: Sorry for the MIA. You guys know there was a
24:58
Speaker 7: few reasons why I did that. And I just need
25:00
Speaker 7: to take a little bit of time out for myself, actually,
25:01
Speaker 7: because I kind of became somebody who I didn't really
25:03
Speaker 7: recognise anymore, and I'm sure you guys didn't either. I
25:05
Speaker 7: was so angry at what was going on around me,
25:07
Speaker 7: and instead of taking a look inwards, I decided to
25:09
Speaker 7: look outwards at everybody else. And I just think, yeah,
25:11
Speaker 7: I just took it out on everybody else, which is
25:12
Speaker 7: just wrong, really. And my own frustrations with my own
25:15
Speaker 7: career and where I kind of landed, I took shots
25:17
Speaker 7: at everybody else, which is wrong. So obviously I want
25:18
Speaker 7: to apologise for that in the first instance, because that's
25:21
Speaker 7: definitely not me.
25:22
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, this stint in rehab was not his last. So
25:26
Speaker 1: according to the Sun newspapers, Liam actually entered a rehab
25:29
Speaker 1: facility in late July this year for drug and alcohol addiction.
25:33
Speaker 1: Now he was doing a 28 day addiction therapy program,
25:37
Speaker 1: but left after 48 hours. Now back to the hotel
25:41
Speaker 1: Casa Sur, because there have been a lot of claims
25:43
Speaker 1: circulating TikTok. The hotel staff gave Liam the illegal substances,
25:48
Speaker 1: which were found in his room. Now, this was first
25:51
Speaker 1: released on TikTok by Kimberly Clementine, and she shared a
25:54
Speaker 1: leaked voice note, which was allegedly from another hotel worker.
25:58
Speaker 1: She ended up translating it to her followers because it
26:01
Speaker 1: was in Spanish. Now, the alleged hotel worker said that
26:04
Speaker 1: Liam was in the hotel for a week and was
26:07
Speaker 1: a substance user, an alcoholic and a jerk who was
26:10
Speaker 1: very sick. He went on to allege that Liam was
26:13
Speaker 1: demanding that the hotel reps give him substances and and
26:16
Speaker 1: one ended up delivering the goods. The audio then went
26:20
Speaker 1: on to allege that hotel staff tried to kick Liam out,
26:24
Speaker 1: but they couldn't when they discovered that their worker was
26:26
Speaker 1: the one who supplied him with the drugs. If this
26:29
Speaker 1: is true, it does make more sense as to why
26:32
Speaker 1: the hotel didn't want to call the police immediately when
26:35
Speaker 1: Liam seemed off. Yeah, they could have allegedly been trying
26:38
Speaker 1: to cover their tracks, and it seems like now that
26:40
Speaker 1: there is a deeper investigation into these issues that the
26:43
Speaker 1: hotel could potentially... be held responsible for part of this. Yeah.
26:47
Speaker 1: And in the audio, the hotel worker also alleged that
26:50
Speaker 1: Liam had two sex workers in his hotel room just
26:53
Speaker 1: hours before his death, which we did touch on earlier.
26:56
Speaker 1: So when police released Liam's autopsy, they confirmed they were
27:00
Speaker 1: speaking to three hotel staff and two women who visited
27:03
Speaker 1: Liam's room before his death. Now, it's important to note
27:06
Speaker 1: that it's been confirmed both women had already left the
27:09
Speaker 1: hotel when the incident occurred. Yeah, and media are now
27:12
Speaker 1: reporting that Liam was seen arguing with a woman about
27:15
Speaker 1: money in the lobby just hours before he fell. It
27:18
Speaker 1: is believed to be one of these sex workers. And
27:21
Speaker 1: a witness claimed to have heard Liam say to the woman,
27:23
Speaker 1: I'll give you $ 20, 000 just because I can. I have
27:27
Speaker 1: $ 55 million and I like to help people. Now, this
27:30
Speaker 1: situation was described by the witness as being very tense.
27:34
Speaker 1: And a hotel staff member was there helping to translate
27:37
Speaker 1: the conversation to Liam because the woman spoke Spanish. With
27:40
Speaker 1: all this information coming out about the sex workers, I
27:42
Speaker 1: do really feel for Kate Cassidy as well as Liam's family.
27:46
Speaker 1: There is some information that you don't want to know
27:48
Speaker 1: about a family member and also your boyfriend. Yeah, it'd
27:51
Speaker 1: be so difficult to grapple with perhaps feeling guilt over
27:55
Speaker 1: his death, not that she is responsible in any means,
27:58
Speaker 1: but you would feel bad that you had left to
28:00
Speaker 1: go back home and you weren't there when it happened.
28:02
Speaker 1: But then there's this new layer of feeling angry towards
28:06
Speaker 1: that person because they potentially have cheated on you. Yeah. Now,
28:10
Speaker 1: since the news of Liam's death broke, fans and the
28:13
Speaker 1: media have been digging into the past and trying to
28:16
Speaker 1: understand what has happened in the days leading up to
28:19
Speaker 1: his death. So among their discoveries is the fact that
28:22
Speaker 1: Liam's ex-fiancée, Maya Henry launched legal action against Liam a
28:27
Speaker 1: few weeks before his death. So the 23-year-old had issued
28:31
Speaker 1: a cease and desist letter against Liam saying he had
28:34
Speaker 1: repeatedly been contacting her, her friends and family. A spokesperson
28:39
Speaker 1: for Maya said that they issued the cease and desist
28:42
Speaker 1: following the emergence of new and concerning information. With so
28:46
Speaker 1: many One Direction fans distraught and at a loss to
28:49
Speaker 1: make sense of this tragedy, They are looking for someone
28:52
Speaker 1: to blame and that person appears to be Maya. Now,
28:56
Speaker 1: Maya first met Liam at a meet and greet when
28:58
Speaker 1: she was just 15 years old. So a friend had
29:01
Speaker 1: dragged her along to a One Direction concert and she
29:04
Speaker 1: said she instantly fell in love with the band. So
29:07
Speaker 1: among a thousand other screaming fans, Maya met the band
29:11
Speaker 1: members and snapped a quick photo with the boys. Now,
29:14
Speaker 1: that same year, Maya gained public attention of her own
29:17
Speaker 1: when her father threw her a $ 6 million 15th birthday party,
29:21
Speaker 1: which featured performances by Pitbull and also Nick Jonas. Now
29:26
Speaker 1: this event catapulted her into the spotlight and she started
29:29
Speaker 1: to build a following on Instagram and also pick up
29:31
Speaker 1: some modeling opportunities. And it wasn't until she was 18
29:35
Speaker 1: when she crossed paths with Liam again, because she was
29:37
Speaker 1: modeling in a fashion show and Liam was also performing
29:41
Speaker 1: at one of the parties there. Now they were only
29:43
Speaker 1: together for three months until Liam popped the question. And
29:48
Speaker 1: during their time together, a lot was made of the
29:50
Speaker 1: fact that Maya was previously a fan because a lot
29:53
Speaker 1: of fans were jealous of her because she was living
29:55
Speaker 1: out their dream. Now, they were very on and off
29:57
Speaker 1: again until in 2022 when they officially parted ways and
30:01
Speaker 1: ended their engagement. And it was in May this year
30:03
Speaker 1: that Maya released a fiction book called Looking Forward, which
30:07
Speaker 1: was a play on the name One Direction. And whilst
30:10
Speaker 1: the book is fiction, it is said to be inspired
30:13
Speaker 1: by true events. So the novel follows the story of Mallory,
30:16
Speaker 1: an aspiring model who falls in love with Oliver, a
30:19
Speaker 1: former boy band member. Ironically, Maya says it was actually
30:23
Speaker 1: Liam who encouraged her to write the book. So When
30:25
Speaker 1: they were together, they went to the theater to see
30:28
Speaker 1: The After Movie, which is pretty wild because the movie
30:31
Speaker 1: is an adaptation of Anna Todd's fan fiction book about
30:35
Speaker 1: Harry Styles and the rest of the One Direction crew.
30:38
Speaker 1: And after the movie, Liam said to Maya, you should
30:40
Speaker 1: write a book about our relationship. Fans would love to
30:43
Speaker 1: read a book about a fan getting to date one
30:45
Speaker 1: of the band members. So Maya had actually written a
30:48
Speaker 1: couple of children's books before and thought that this was
30:50
Speaker 1: a really good idea. And at the time, I'm sure
30:53
Speaker 1: Liam thought that this was going to be a very
30:56
Speaker 1: glowing review of their relationship. Now, in the novel, Oliver's
30:59
Speaker 1: character transforms from a clean-cut pop star into an unpredictable
31:03
Speaker 1: addict with a volatile temper. And in the book, Maya
31:07
Speaker 1: speaks about the abuse that Mallory faced at the hands
31:10
Speaker 1: of Oliver. Now, the story speaks in detail about Oliver's
31:14
Speaker 1: drug and alcohol addiction. And in one section, Maya writes
31:18
Speaker 1: about Oliver chasing Mallory with an axe. Maya has later
31:22
Speaker 1: confirmed that this incident took place in real life. Let's
31:26
Speaker 1: read out the excerpt. Suddenly, I see Oliver grab something
31:30
Speaker 1: that's next to his bed, an axe. He is playfully
31:33
Speaker 1: swinging it around. He starts hitting the bed next to
31:35
Speaker 1: me with the axe, hitting to one side of me,
31:38
Speaker 1: then the other side. I am sitting in the middle,
31:41
Speaker 1: watching him hit the bed. Whack, whack, laughing as if
31:44
Speaker 1: he is playing. I try to laugh it off. Next
31:47
Speaker 1: thing I know, He is ferociously whacking the white duvet
31:50
Speaker 1: with this crazed, insane look again. I freak out and
31:54
Speaker 1: start running to the guest room down the hall. Oliver
31:57
Speaker 1: is chasing me with the axe. I scream and Oliver
32:00
Speaker 1: freezes with the axe in the air. I am screaming
32:03
Speaker 1: some more. I back away and run down the hallway.
32:06
Speaker 1: I am begging him to stop. Then I'm yelling some more.
32:08
Speaker 1: I just know my throat is going to be raw tomorrow.
32:11
Speaker 1: He doesn't seem to hear me or anything else. He
32:14
Speaker 1: is in a frenzy, heaving the axe, then shouting to himself,
32:17
Speaker 1: stomping down the hall a few steps, yelling. I beg
32:21
Speaker 1: him to stop. He doesn't take any notice. I yell louder,
32:24
Speaker 1: desperate and so afraid. Not for what he might do
32:27
Speaker 1: to me, even more for what he could do to himself.
32:30
Speaker 1: He is so sloppy and out of control. Just one
32:33
Speaker 1: stumble and he could accidentally cut his own fingers or worse.
32:37
Speaker 1: Just one bad aim and dot, dot, dot. Then it happens.
32:41
Speaker 1: That one bad aim. Lifting the axe again, he plunges
32:44
Speaker 1: it into the TV. My feet hit the cold marble
32:47
Speaker 1: floor as I try to escape. I lock myself in
32:50
Speaker 1: the guest bathroom. My back slides down the door and
32:52
Speaker 1: I'm screaming in tears. Not only am I scared, I'm
32:55
Speaker 1: wondering how the hell I got here. Is this real? Wow,
32:58
Speaker 1: that is really hard to listen to. We do want
33:01
Speaker 1: to reiterate that these are unconfirmed allegations. What I find
33:05
Speaker 1: really eerie is the mention of the TV after seeing
33:08
Speaker 1: photos of his TV destroyed in the hotel room. I
33:12
Speaker 1: did think of that as well.
33:13
Speaker 4: Yeah.
33:13
Speaker 1: Now, in another section of Maya's book, she writes that
33:16
Speaker 1: Oliver sent Mallory's mother an unsolicited dick pic. And in
33:20
Speaker 1: the book, Maya also wrote about the main character undergoing
33:23
Speaker 1: a painful abortion that Oliver insisted she had, otherwise he
33:27
Speaker 1: would leave her. Now, speaking to People Magazine in May,
33:31
Speaker 1: Maya said, what I went through in real life is
33:33
Speaker 1: very similar to what Mallory went through in the book.
33:37
Speaker 1: I definitely did have complications and did have to go
33:39
Speaker 1: to the hospital alone. She continued saying, if it were
33:42
Speaker 1: up to me, I wouldn't have had it done. But
33:45
Speaker 1: then also, if I were to have made a different decision,
33:47
Speaker 1: then I would have lost the person that I loved. Now,
33:50
Speaker 1: in the lead up to Maya's book release, she gave
33:52
Speaker 1: interviews to high profile media outlets about the book and
33:56
Speaker 1: also Liam's alleged abuse. But they have all refused to
34:00
Speaker 1: run the story due to the fear of being sued.
34:02
Speaker 1: And I'm also guessing due to Liam's star power. Now,
34:06
Speaker 1: it wasn't until Maya posted a TikTok video on the
34:09
Speaker 1: 10th of October that people started to take notice. Ironically,
34:13
Speaker 1: Maya posted a video revealing that it was in fact
34:16
Speaker 1: Zayn who threw Liam up against a wall during their
34:19
Speaker 1: 1D days. Yeah, there had been a lot of speculation
34:22
Speaker 1: about this since Liam appeared on Logan Paul's podcast and
34:25
Speaker 1: he said that things got physical between him and an
34:28
Speaker 1: unnamed band member. Now this video attracted over 3 million
34:32
Speaker 1: views with some 1D fans attacking Maya for talking about
34:36
Speaker 1: Liam and saying that she should get his name out
34:39
Speaker 1: of her mouth. Here's how Maya responded.
34:43
Speaker 5: Y'all don't even know what happens behind closed doors or
34:45
Speaker 5: in private. Ever since we broke up, he messages me,
34:49
Speaker 5: blow up my phone, mind you, not only from his
34:53
Speaker 5: phone number, it's always from different phone numbers too. So
34:56
Speaker 5: I never know where it's going to come from. He'll
34:59
Speaker 5: create new iCloud accounts to iMessage me. It's always a
35:04
Speaker 5: damn new iCloud account. I'm like, every time I see
35:06
Speaker 5: one pop up on my phone, I'm like, here we
35:07
Speaker 5: fucking go again. Also will email me. And he does
35:14
Speaker 5: this when he gets his phone taken away. Also, not
35:18
Speaker 5: only me, but he'll blow up my mom's phone.
35:22
Speaker 1: Is that normal behavior to you? She also continued saying
35:26
Speaker 1: that he would message her friends during their relationship and
35:29
Speaker 1: ask them to come over while she was away to
35:31
Speaker 1: hook up. She then went on to accuse him of
35:33
Speaker 1: grooming his fans. Let's hear more of what she said.
35:37
Speaker 5: He says that he preys on One Direction fans because
35:41
Speaker 5: they will always be loyal to him and they won't
35:43
Speaker 5: tell on him. So it's like, okay, not only are you, you,
35:47
Speaker 5: and also you weaponize your own fan base.
35:50
Speaker 1: Now, following the TikTok video, Maya said that she was
35:53
Speaker 1: flooded with messages from women claiming to have similar experiences
35:56
Speaker 1: with Liam and coming forward with fresh information. She thanked
36:00
Speaker 1: people for their overwhelming support and said she was using
36:03
Speaker 1: her voice to hold men accountable. Now, as we touched
36:06
Speaker 1: on a week before Liam's death, Maya launched legal action
36:10
Speaker 1: against him. It's quite interesting because Maya's father is a
36:13
Speaker 1: very high profile lawyer and Maya is also planning to
36:17
Speaker 1: start law school soon. Now, following news of the legal letter,
36:21
Speaker 1: 1D fans started abusing Maya online. One called her a
36:25
Speaker 1: clout chaser and said, Liam will always be more famous
36:28
Speaker 1: than you. Move on, girl. Whilst another said, unless you
36:32
Speaker 1: go to court or have solid proof, girly, I don't
36:34
Speaker 1: believe you, honestly. Whilst another said, begging on your knees
36:38
Speaker 1: to be popular. It's just awful to read those sorts
36:41
Speaker 1: of commentary, particularly when it's women commenting that to women. Now,
36:45
Speaker 1: two days before Liam's death, the Internet Is Dead podcast
36:49
Speaker 1: aired an interview with Maya where she went into detail
36:52
Speaker 1: about the abuse she allegedly faced from Liam. It's quite
36:55
Speaker 1: odd because the Internet Is Dead podcast is a US-based
36:59
Speaker 1: podcast with a really small following. So on Instagram and TikTok,
37:04
Speaker 1: they only have around 200 followers and it's hosted by
37:07
Speaker 1: 23-year-old best friends, Brittany and Samara. And they admitted that
37:11
Speaker 1: they were part of the 1D fandom growing up. Now,
37:14
Speaker 1: I'm guessing that Maya agreed to go on their podcast
37:17
Speaker 1: due to the fact that larger media outlets were refusing
37:21
Speaker 1: to publish her claims. And she really thanked the girls
37:24
Speaker 1: for having her on. And she seemed really genuinely appreciative
37:27
Speaker 1: to have a space to tell her story. We've got
37:30
Speaker 1: to remember that while this story about Liam Payne is
37:33
Speaker 1: the biggest entertainment story of the year, a couple of
37:36
Speaker 1: weeks ago, Liam Payne's fame wasn't huge. Yeah, but at
37:40
Speaker 1: the same time, he was still in the zeitgeist because
37:43
Speaker 1: people were trolling him over his performance at Niall's concert.
37:48
Speaker 1: I also didn't like the way that this podcast refused
37:52
Speaker 1: to use the term allegedly. Well, it is interesting that
37:55
Speaker 1: Maya chose to be on this podcast because maybe she
37:58
Speaker 1: thought they're not very well educated on media law. I
38:02
Speaker 1: can get my feelings out there and then they will
38:05
Speaker 1: be liable.
38:06
Speaker 4: Yeah.
38:07
Speaker 1: Well, in the interview, Maya alleged that the abuse started
38:10
Speaker 1: happening after they got engaged during lockdown. Now, in what
38:14
Speaker 1: is a very eerie listen, she spoke about how Liam
38:17
Speaker 1: messaged her mom saying he wasn't going to be around
38:20
Speaker 1: for much longer.
38:22
Speaker 5: He would always play with death and be like, well,
38:24
Speaker 5: I'm going to die. I'm not doing well. And there
38:28
Speaker 5: was one time I tried to get him help. And
38:31
Speaker 5: then he was like, not taking it, he would text
38:34
Speaker 5: my mom, I'm not doing well, have Maya contact me
38:37
Speaker 5: because I wouldn't respond. And it's just always the same cycle.
38:40
Speaker 5: And every time that, like, for example, when I announced
38:43
Speaker 5: my book, He did the same thing. He called my mom.
38:46
Speaker 5: I think I'm not going to be around much longer.
38:48
Speaker 4: The messages telling you that he might die, that's such
38:53
Speaker 4: a low level of manipulation. Yeah. And so terrifying because
38:58
Speaker 4: it's like you feel so responsible for this person. If
39:01
Speaker 4: something happens, you're going to feel really guilty about it,
39:03
Speaker 4: even though it's not your fault.
39:05
Speaker 1: You are your own person.
39:07
Speaker 4: You don't have to take care of this human who
39:09
Speaker 4: has traumatized you. That's like so messed up. I'm sorry.
39:13
Speaker 5: I remember when he first did that. I was like,
39:16
Speaker 5: I would always because I was always like, I know
39:17
Speaker 5: the lifestyle he lives and there is a day where
39:21
Speaker 5: something bad is going to happen. So I would always
39:23
Speaker 5: be like, okay, he's saying these things. I have to
39:26
Speaker 5: help him because if I don't, I will never be
39:28
Speaker 5: able to live with myself if something goes wrong.
39:30
Speaker 1: Does happen to him.
39:31
Speaker 5: Cause you know, as I said, he's a father, he
39:34
Speaker 5: has a family. Like I just want to help. And
39:39
Speaker 5: I mean, up even until my book was coming out,
39:42
Speaker 5: even one of his friends was calling me and my
39:44
Speaker 5: mom being like, oh, you know, this isn't a good
39:48
Speaker 5: time for him. I don't think you should put the
39:50
Speaker 5: book out. You know, he's not doing well. And if
39:54
Speaker 5: something happens to him, not only are you going to
39:57
Speaker 5: blame yourself, but the whole world's going to blame you.
40:00
Speaker 1: I listened to this full podcast on the day that
40:02
Speaker 1: the news broke about Liam's death and my jaw was
40:05
Speaker 1: on the ground. I couldn't believe what was being said.
40:09
Speaker 1: And it's really bad because I think that someone should
40:11
Speaker 1: be able to talk about what happened to them. They
40:15
Speaker 1: should be able to scream it from the rooftops. But
40:17
Speaker 1: in saying that, it's really difficult to listen to the
40:20
Speaker 1: fact that friends pleaded with her to think about his
40:22
Speaker 1: mental health. In hindsight, yes. But in abusive relationships, it
40:26
Speaker 1: isn't uncommon for the abuser to use suicide as a
40:30
Speaker 1: threat to control people. And there's no way that Maya
40:34
Speaker 1: could predict what was actually going to happen. And I'm
40:37
Speaker 1: sure it was not her intention for this to happen. No.
40:40
Speaker 1: And I think what was clear listening to the full
40:43
Speaker 1: podcast is that she really did care about Liam because
40:47
Speaker 1: even when they were broken up, she tried to get
40:49
Speaker 1: Liam help and encouraged him to go to rehab. As
40:52
Speaker 1: soon as the news broke of Liam's death, Maya's social
40:55
Speaker 1: media accounts were flooded with death threats and 1D fans
40:59
Speaker 1: holding her responsible for the death. One said, Liam Payne
41:02
Speaker 1: is dead because of you. Another said, now he is dead.
41:05
Speaker 1: Are you happy? I just think it's really troubling that
41:08
Speaker 1: this is a 23-year-old woman who has found the bravery
41:11
Speaker 1: to speak out against physical and emotional abuse that she
41:15
Speaker 1: allegedly received at the hands of someone who is very
41:17
Speaker 1: high profile and she is now being vilified and blamed
41:21
Speaker 1: for his death. I think it's very clear since more
41:24
Speaker 1: reports have come out about the situation surrounding Liam's death
41:28
Speaker 1: that this wasn't the only thing on his mind. It
41:31
Speaker 1: unfortunately is very bad timing and these comments have not
41:34
Speaker 1: aged well.
41:35
Speaker 5: No.
41:36
Speaker 1: But it doesn't mean that she is responsible for his actions.
41:40
Speaker 1: I mean, Liam has been suffering from chronic drug and
41:43
Speaker 1: alcohol problems for years. She tried to get him help
41:46
Speaker 1: with these issues. And from what she said in the interview,
41:50
Speaker 1: she is just scratching the surface of things that he
41:52
Speaker 1: has allegedly done to her. And I think in times
41:55
Speaker 1: like this, as a society, we really want someone to blame.
41:59
Speaker 1: and hold responsible for his death. And no one looks
42:02
Speaker 1: inwards at themselves and thinks, well, maybe it was unhelpful
42:06
Speaker 1: to troll him over his appearance at Niall's concert, or
42:09
Speaker 1: maybe we shouldn't have been knocking down his door, trying
42:13
Speaker 1: to get photos with him or giving him space and
42:15
Speaker 1: the privacy that he needed. No one wants to blame themselves.
42:18
Speaker 1: They want to blame someone else. Oh, everyone loves to
42:20
Speaker 1: shift the blame. What makes no sense to me is
42:22
Speaker 1: that Liam's cause of death has not been proven. It
42:26
Speaker 1: is still under investigation. These fans clearly think that he
42:30
Speaker 1: has taken his own life because of what Maya has said.
42:34
Speaker 1: And in order to punish her, they're trolling her. So
42:37
Speaker 1: eventually she takes her own life. Like it doesn't make
42:40
Speaker 1: any sense. I would literally hate to know what she's
42:42
Speaker 1: going through at the moment, particularly because even though it's
42:46
Speaker 1: not her fault, I'm sure that she would hold guilt
42:49
Speaker 1: around this. And it doesn't help when you have people
42:52
Speaker 1: saying your worst fears. Yeah, and it's your fault. And
42:55
Speaker 1: also she's trying to deal with what also has allegedly
42:58
Speaker 1: happened to her at the same time as navigating sadness
43:01
Speaker 1: around her alleged abuser's death. Yeah, there's also been another
43:05
Speaker 1: TikToker who's been dragged into this controversy. Her name is
43:09
Speaker 1: also Maya Henry, and she is an actress and content
43:12
Speaker 1: creator from Canada who So a number of media publications
43:16
Speaker 1: have mistakenly used her images in articles, confusing her for
43:20
Speaker 1: Liam's ex-fiance. And this has resulted in her copying a
43:24
Speaker 1: barrage of hate and abuse. So her TikTok came up
43:27
Speaker 1: on my newsfeed and I just assumed it was her.
43:29
Speaker 1: And she was like, it was not on my bingo
43:30
Speaker 1: card to be blamed for the death of Liam Payne.
43:33
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, wow, has Maya Henry actually
43:36
Speaker 1: came out and spoken about this? And then I was
43:39
Speaker 1: so confused because that was her name as well. And
43:41
Speaker 1: she looked a lot like her. Now, Cheryl Cole, who
43:45
Speaker 1: was Liam's former partner and the mother to his child, Bear,
43:48
Speaker 1: released a very heart-wrenching statement reminding the world that we
43:51
Speaker 1: have lost a human being. Now, she expressed her disappointment
43:55
Speaker 1: at the media coverage, labeling it abhorrent and describing the
43:59
Speaker 1: reporting as media exploitation. She also described Liam's death as
44:03
Speaker 1: an earth-shattering event and said Liam was not only a
44:06
Speaker 1: pop star and a celebrity. He was a son, a brother,
44:10
Speaker 1: an uncle, a dear friend, and a father to our
44:12
Speaker 1: seven-year-old son, a son that now has to face the
44:15
Speaker 1: reality of never seeing his father again. It is breaking
44:18
Speaker 1: my heart further that I cannot protect him from that
44:21
Speaker 1: in his future. Please give Liam the dignity he has
44:24
Speaker 1: left in the wake of his death to rest in
44:26
Speaker 1: some peace at last. That is just so sad to
44:30
Speaker 1: listen to. The fact that Liam has a seven-year-old son
44:33
Speaker 1: who is trying to navigate this situation as well. And
44:36
Speaker 1: then you've got photos of your father's dead body being
44:39
Speaker 1: circulated around Twitter. It is so sad that potentially one
44:42
Speaker 1: day Bear could see those photos. I really hope that
44:45
Speaker 1: they are completely wiped from the internet. What also made
44:48
Speaker 1: me very sad was reading the tributes that Liam's former
44:53
Speaker 1: bandmates left for him. So Zayn wrote, I always secretly
45:07
Speaker 1: respected you for it. It's important to point out that
45:10
Speaker 1: he included a laughing face emoji in there. I think
45:12
Speaker 1: to point out that their fights were lighthearted because they
45:15
Speaker 1: have been so pumped up in the media. Zayn has
45:18
Speaker 1: also postponed the US leg of his tour as he grieves,
45:21
Speaker 1: which it just shows how impactful this death has been.
45:24
Speaker 1: I found it really hard to read Louis' statement as
45:27
Speaker 1: well because he recently has lost his mum and sister.
45:30
Speaker 1: So this is another big loss for him. So he
45:34
Speaker 1: opened up that he had lost a brother in Liam
45:36
Speaker 1: and described him as the most vital part of One Direction.
45:40
Speaker 1: He also said he was grateful that they'd become even
45:42
Speaker 1: closer since the band split up and would speak on
45:45
Speaker 1: the phone with Liam for hours reminiscing about their thousands
45:48
Speaker 1: of amazing memories. He also vowed to be there for
45:51
Speaker 1: Bear and tell him how amazing his dad was. I
45:54
Speaker 1: feel like Harry Styles was probably the most put together
45:57
Speaker 1: and professional media release. He probably had help from his
46:00
Speaker 1: media team. So he wrote that he was devastated by
46:03
Speaker 1: Liam's passing and that the years he spent with Liam
46:05
Speaker 1: and One Direction will be the most cherished years of
46:08
Speaker 1: his life. Now, Niall put out his statement last and
46:11
Speaker 1: I think it's because he was probably most impacted by
46:15
Speaker 1: it because he only recently saw Liam and he said
46:18
Speaker 1: he feels so fortunate to have seen him at his concert.
46:21
Speaker 1: And he never would have realized that after saying goodbye
46:24
Speaker 1: and hugging him that night, it would be the last
46:26
Speaker 1: goodbye forever. It's just so sad. I really feel for
46:30
Speaker 1: Niall in this situation because there must be a part
46:33
Speaker 1: of him that blames himself that he had a concert
46:35
Speaker 1: there and, you know, those sliding door moments. Now, I
46:38
Speaker 1: do want to talk about the reaction from the fans
46:40
Speaker 1: after Liam's death because I find it so interesting. So
46:45
Speaker 1: when the news broke, One Direction fans laughed literally returned
46:49
Speaker 1: to the fandom to seek comfort and support. So a
46:52
Speaker 1: lot of inactive fan accounts and group chats that were
46:54
Speaker 1: once frozen in time suddenly began buzzing again. And I
46:58
Speaker 1: think that's because of the complexity that surrounds Liam's legacy.
47:02
Speaker 1: So the fandom has been a safe space for directioners
47:06
Speaker 1: to share their grief without any judgment. Mm-hmm. And I
47:10
Speaker 1: think that that's because they feel like directioners are the
47:14
Speaker 1: only ones who truly understand what they're going through and
47:16
Speaker 1: there's not going to be any judgment. Yeah, particularly TikTok
47:19
Speaker 1: is a rough place at the moment if you are
47:21
Speaker 1: a One Direction fan. So I am glad that they
47:24
Speaker 1: do have this safe place to mourn. As we touched
47:27
Speaker 1: on at the start of the episode, we were One
47:29
Speaker 1: Direction fans, but not a part of the fandom itself.
47:31
Speaker 1: But I think we have been in a sense, part
47:35
Speaker 1: of a fandom before. So I think the big one
47:37
Speaker 1: for us was Dean, the Dean Gaia forum.
47:39
Speaker 7: Yeah.
47:40
Speaker 1: It's wild to think how popular forums were. Yeah. In,
47:44
Speaker 1: was it, when was it? Like 20, I think 2006.
47:48
Speaker 4: Yeah.
47:48
Speaker 1: So because we didn't, I don't think Twitter was around then.
47:51
Speaker 1: So it was really forums that you would go on
47:54
Speaker 1: and you would make friends with these people that also
47:56
Speaker 1: liked the celebrity that you were interested in. And There's
48:00
Speaker 1: such a hierarchy when it comes to these fandoms. Like
48:03
Speaker 1: I remember on the Dean Guy forum, people's avatars would
48:07
Speaker 1: really give you an idea of what you thought they
48:09
Speaker 1: were like. Like if they had a really nice avatar
48:12
Speaker 1: with nice pictures of Dean Guy, you kind of thought
48:14
Speaker 1: of them in a different way. And on these forums,
48:17
Speaker 1: I have to say that the majority of people always
48:19
Speaker 1: have a distaste for the girlfriend or whoever the girlfriend is.
48:23
Speaker 1: Even if they're the nicest person on the planet, there's
48:25
Speaker 1: a lot of jealousy surrounding it. Yeah, and in saying that,
48:29
Speaker 1: I do think the friendships that are formed in these
48:31
Speaker 1: sorts of communities are very genuine because while you get
48:34
Speaker 1: together to talk about maybe album releases or award show performances,
48:39
Speaker 1: there's also personal chats going on and people sharing their
48:42
Speaker 1: own life milestones in the general chat on those types
48:46
Speaker 1: of forums. So while the relationship with the band was
48:49
Speaker 1: a parasocial one for Directioners, the friendships within that community
48:53
Speaker 1: were very real and And this community of fans, I think,
48:56
Speaker 1: was one of the most significant things to come from
48:59
Speaker 1: One Direction's existence. And Directioners were really the originators of
49:04
Speaker 1: modern stan Twitter. So they used the platform to communicate
49:08
Speaker 1: with the boys and fans as well as get the
49:10
Speaker 1: band trending online. They set the tone for a lot
49:13
Speaker 1: of other big fan groups. I noticed a lot of
49:15
Speaker 1: Directioners were saying that Liam's passing very much reminded them
49:20
Speaker 1: of the day when Zayn announced he was leaving the band.
49:23
Speaker 1: And I think it's because there's this real finalness to
49:26
Speaker 1: it because there have been rumors for months that One
49:30
Speaker 1: Direction was going to reform and we were going to
49:32
Speaker 1: have a reunion. We new concerts. And I think that
49:37
Speaker 1: there's a real feeling and knowledge that probably is not
49:40
Speaker 1: going to happen, particularly because Liam sang a lot of
49:43
Speaker 1: the songs. Well, people want a reunion of all five members.
49:46
Speaker 1: They don't want to have just the four. And I
49:48
Speaker 1: think it was the nature of the way the boys
49:51
Speaker 1: actually went on a hiatus. So it was described as
49:54
Speaker 1: an indefinite hiatus in 2015. And as you said, Sophie,
49:57
Speaker 1: there were recently murmurs of this reunion.
50:00
Speaker 4: So a.
50:03
Speaker 1: One Rolling Stone writer and One Direction fam, Larissa Paul, wrote,
50:07
Speaker 1: the version of One Direction that we have all held
50:10
Speaker 1: onto hasn't existed for quite some time. It lives forever
50:13
Speaker 1: only in the sense that it lives within all of us.
50:15
Speaker 1: But the reality of their true impermanence has left us
50:19
Speaker 1: with even more ghosts to grieve in the wake of
50:21
Speaker 1: Liam's death. And I think that sums it up really well. Yeah,
50:24
Speaker 1: it's crazy to think that it's been eight years since
50:26
Speaker 1: the band broke up and it just feels like so
50:30
Speaker 1: many famous bands recently have returned to perform on stage
50:33
Speaker 1: together because at the moment we're experiencing this real nostalgia
50:37
Speaker 1: and we're seeing these huge performers coming back. Oasis, you
50:41
Speaker 1: never expected they would return. So I just think that
50:44
Speaker 1: everyone is not only grieving Liam but they're also grieving
50:47
Speaker 1: the fact that One Direction is never going to come
50:49
Speaker 1: back together and never be complete. Yeah. And a lot
50:52
Speaker 1: of directioners are looking at the music for signs. So
50:55
Speaker 1: at the end of the band's last single history, the
50:58
Speaker 1: boys eerily sing, so don't let me go. We can
51:01
Speaker 1: live forever. I have been listening to One Direction nonstop
51:05
Speaker 1: in the car and it's bringing me sadness, but also
51:09
Speaker 1: a lot of joy. See, I haven't been able to
51:11
Speaker 1: listen to it, but I've got it in my head,
51:13
Speaker 1: probably from a lot of the TikToks that have it
51:15
Speaker 1: playing in the background. It is just so heartbreaking. It
51:18
Speaker 1: does feel like a piece of your childhood is dying.
51:21
Speaker 1: I mean, we were probably 25 at the peak of
51:23
Speaker 1: their popularity, but I do fondly remember their concert. And
51:27
Speaker 1: I'm always someone that buys into that hype around celebrities.
51:30
Speaker 1: And for many young fans, it's the first celebrity that
51:33
Speaker 1: they have loved that has died, or even the first
51:35
Speaker 1: person that they know, be it from a parasocial relationship
51:39
Speaker 1: that has passed away. You really do grieve these relationships.
51:44
Speaker 1: And a lot of people have compared the death to
51:46
Speaker 1: that of John Lennon from the Beatles. And when you
51:49
Speaker 1: love a band or a musician, you really do attach
51:52
Speaker 1: your own life experiences to their music. And a lot
51:55
Speaker 1: of people are probably thinking, well, now that they're gone,
52:00
Speaker 1: it feels like those experiences are over too. A lot
52:03
Speaker 1: of people were saying, I should be experiencing this when
52:05
Speaker 1: I'm in my 50s and 60s, not when I'm in
52:07
Speaker 1: my 20s. I'm actually feeling more sad than I did
52:11
Speaker 1: when we started because it's really sad to rehash all
52:15
Speaker 1: of the complexities of this death. At the end of
52:18
Speaker 1: the day, Liam was a real person who has a son,
52:22
Speaker 1: who has a family. I mean, seeing his dad going
52:24
Speaker 1: to his hotel, I recently read the message that his
52:27
Speaker 1: sister wrote to him on Instagram. He was a young
52:30
Speaker 1: boy that was plucked from obscurity at 17. And it's
52:34
Speaker 1: hard not to consider that if he hadn't been a
52:36
Speaker 1: part of One Direction, would he have lost his life
52:39
Speaker 1: at such a young age? I mean, everyone always says
52:41
Speaker 1: that they want to grow up famous and rich, but
52:43
Speaker 1: he literally had it all, but had nothing at the
52:46
Speaker 1: same time. Fame really impacted him. I saw an interview
52:49
Speaker 1: he did and he was talking about how it scared
52:52
Speaker 1: him so much that his son Bear said that he
52:54
Speaker 1: wanted to perform on stage with him and be famous
52:56
Speaker 1: because for Liam that would be his absolute worst nightmare
52:59
Speaker 1: because the fame really damaged him. And what is also
53:03
Speaker 1: so sad is that there is just so much guilt
53:05
Speaker 1: being felt by so many people. I think that his
53:07
Speaker 1: family would feel guilt for getting him into something so young.
53:11
Speaker 1: And what I could think about was his mum in
53:13
Speaker 1: the movie, she bought a cardboard cutout of Liam and
53:16
Speaker 1: put him in her room because she said she missed
53:19
Speaker 1: having him at home. So it's not only grief that
53:22
Speaker 1: the family are feeling now that he's gone, but all
53:25
Speaker 1: of those years that they missed out on having their
53:27
Speaker 1: boy at home. It's going to be really interesting to
53:29
Speaker 1: see what happens in the next few weeks when the
53:32
Speaker 1: cause of Liam's death is confirmed and whether there is
53:36
Speaker 1: more investigations done into the way that the hotel staff
53:39
Speaker 1: acted during his stay. We also are going to potentially
53:43
Speaker 1: see a public funeral play out. And I've seen so
53:46
Speaker 1: many people saying that it is just so depressing that
53:49
Speaker 1: the last time all of the boys are going to
53:51
Speaker 1: be in the same room together is at Liam's funeral.
53:53
Speaker 1: And it's not the reunion everyone thought we were going
53:55
Speaker 1: to get. That is a really tough note to end
53:57
Speaker 1: things on. Now, if anyone is struggling, Lifeline are available.
54:02
Speaker 1: Their number is 13 11 14. We will return to
54:06
Speaker 1: our regular episodes on Thursday where you can get all
54:08
Speaker 1: of the latest influencer news. Thank you so much for listening.
54:12
Speaker 1: If you have enjoyed it, could you please make sure
54:14
Speaker 1: you are subscribed on Apple Podcast and also leave us
54:17
Speaker 1: a review. This podcast was recorded on the traditional land
54:20
Speaker 1: of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. We pay
54:22
Speaker 1: respect to elders past and present.