By Sandra Gonzalez, Jessie Yeung and Amarachi Orie | CNN
Former One Direction band member Liam Payne has died at age 31 after falling from the third floor of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, according to police. The exact circumstances surrounding his death are still unclear.
Here’s what we know:
911 call
Hotel staff had requested urgent police assistance shortly before Payne fell, according to an emergency call obtained by CNN’s local affiliate Todo Noticias.
“We have a guest who is overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol,” the hotel manager said on the call. “He breaks things up. He is tearing the whole room apart.”
The manager said they needed “someone to be sent to us urgently,” as staff didn’t know “if the guest’s life is at risk.”
Hotel staff could not enter the room, where the guest had been staying “for two or three days,” the manager said on the call.
Police rush to hotel
Pablo Policicchio, communications director for the Buenos Aires Security Ministry, said in a statement to The Associated Press that Payne “had jumped from the balcony of his room.”
Police rushed to the hotel in response to an emergency call just after 5 p.m. local time, he said, warning of an “aggressive man who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”
Photos of Payne’s hotel room, released by Buenos Aires police, showed a smashed television.
Authorities are now investigating the circumstances of his death and conducting an autopsy.
Mental health struggles
In recent years, Payne spoke publicly about facing battles with his mental health and substance abuse.
He reflected on recurring feelings of loneliness in the 2019 Sky show “Ant Middleton & Liam Payne: Straight Talking,” saying: “There’s times where that level of loneliness and people getting into you every day… every so often, you’re like, when will this end?”
“That’s almost nearly killed me a couple of times,” he added.
Payne also spoke in 2021 on “The Diary of a CEO” podcast about dealing with alcoholism, saying, “It was a problem” and had “really, really severe” aspects to it.
“It feels to me like when we were in the band, the best way to secure us because of how big it got was just lock us in our rooms. And, of course, what’s in the room? Minibar. So at a certain point I thought, well, I’m going to have a party for one – and that just seemed to carry on throughout many years of my life,” he added.
“It’s wild, but it was like the only way you could get frustration out in the day,” he said.
Journey to superstardom
Payne was born on August 29, 1993, in the English city of Wolverhampton and studied music technology at City of Wolverhampton College.
He was still living in the area when he shot to fame on the British TV contest show “The X Factor.” He first appeared on the show in 2008 as a 14-year-old, returning to audition a second time two years later on Simon Cowell’s advice.
He captured the hearts of young fans along with Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson after they were all grouped together on the show to form One Direction.
As they amassed a global fanbase of “Directioners,” the beloved boy band became the first to have its first four albums debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Also nicknamed 1D, the group sold more than 70 million records worldwide before disbanding in 2016.
The band was known for songs such as “What Makes You Beautiful,” “Best Song Ever,” “Story of My Life,” “Steal My Girl” and “Night Changes,” and Payne’s solo songs include “Strip That Down (feat. Quavo),” which reached No. 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100, “Familiar” and “Bedroom Floor.” Earlier this year, he released the song “Teardrops.”
Payne is survived by his 7-year-old son Bear, who he had with former Girls Aloud member and “X Factor” judge Cheryl Tweedy.
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