'HE WAS SO ILL IN WAYS HE COULDN'T BEAT'

From alcoholism and drug abuse to suicidal thoughts and rehab, Liam was never able to escape the demons that plagued him

- SARAH MORTON

Liam Payne had struggled with his mental health issues for years before his death last week and even revealed that loneliness had “nearly killed me a couple of times”. But it was his haunting final words, uttered just minutes before his fatal fall from a hotel balcony, that revealed the true extent of his inner demons.

Speaking with a young woman who had been staying at the same resort, Liam allegedly told her, “I used to be in a boyband – that’s why I’m so f**ked up.”

The unnamed woman, who used the pseudonym Rebecca, struck up a conversation with Liam just half an hour before he died. He was in the lobby of the hotel and according to Rebecca, “It was so clear he wanted someone to recognise him – there was something a bit desperate about him.”

She said he introduced himself to her and her friends without prompting, exclaiming, “Yes, I’m Liam,” before inviting them into a lift, telling them, “I love a cuddle.”

Liam later returned to the lobby to read emails on his laptop, saw one he obviously didn’t like and, according to Rebecca, yelled, “F**k this s**t, mate!” and threw the computer on the floor.

“I went over and asked, ‘Are you OK?’ But he just kind of grunted,” Rebecca recalled. “Then he said, ‘I used to be in a boyband. That’s why I’m so f**ked up.’”

Once he’d left, Rebecca claims one of Liam’s team came over and apologised on his behalf, saying, “I’m sorry, he just gets so high sometimes.”

Indeed, Liam’s life had been blighted by drug and alcohol use, something he had been open about in the past. At the peak of his stardom with One Direction, the fame and isolation that came with being in the biggest boyband in the world caused him to spiral into drink-fuelled oblivion – and he admitted he’d hit “rock bottom” as a result.