Grief is complex, but why is Payne's ex being targeted?

In the wake of the 1D singer’s death, Maya Henry is caught in a maelstrom of toxic public discourse, finds Olivia Petter

- Olivia Petter

If you’ve read about Liam Payne this week, you’ve probably also read about his former girlfriend Maya Henry. And if you’ve gone down the rabbit hole of social media, much of what you’ve read won’t have been pleasant. “It’s all your fault,” reads one comment on the model’s most recent Instagram post. “Are you happy now?” asks another. There are entire diatribes about Henry’s character, her career, and her upbringing. It appears the reflexive instinct among certain grieving fans has been to blame Payne’s death on Henry, and abuse her incessantly as a result.

It goes without saying that the death of the former One Direction star, who suffered a fatal fall from a balcony in Argentina last week at the age of 31, is a tragedy that has shaken to the core even those who were never 1D fans in the first place. Payne joins the list of famous, talented, beautiful men whose alltoo-short lives were marred by struggles with drugs and alcohol. River Phoenix. Kurt Cobain. Jim Morrison, and so on. Over time, these deaths acquire their own eerie mythology. The curious tragic romanticism we apply to them conceals the many broken lives left behind: girlfriends, exes, children.

With Payne, the simultaneous glorification and horror have been heightened by social media. An active user of Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, the musician allowed fans to feel as if they knew him. The reaction to his death has for many felt akin to losing a real-life friend. Because that’s who he was to so many people, a relatable, cheeky chappy who got caught up in the dizzying heights of fame. He was someone people connected to. They were on his side, and he was on theirs.