Liam Payne Struggled With His Sexuality In Years Before His Death, Ex-Fiancée Maya Henry Says

Late One Direction member Liam Payne reportedly spent the years leading up to his death secretly struggling with his sexuality.

Payne died on Oct. 16, 2024, when, in the midst of a drug-fueled mania, he fell from the third-floor balcony of a Buenos Aires hotel. His autopsy revealed a heavy mix of cocaine, ketamine and other drugs in his system.

Five people were charged in connection to his death, including the hotel manager, a waiter, a receptionist, a hotel employee and one of Payne’s friends. Charges ranged from allegations of drug distribution to manslaughter. 

A Rolling Stone’s bombshell article reported that Payne was known to have had explicit conversations with other men from 2018 to 2022 while in his relationship with ex-fiancée Maya Henry.

Insiders told the outlet that Henry connected Payne’s private behavior when Payne “accidentally broadcasted” secret explicit messages onto their TV.

The report further revealed that Payne had been abusive to Henry in a variety of ways, including when she got pregnant in 2020, and he pressured her to get an abortion. An inside source explained, “Liam sent Maya a long message saying it’s either get an abortion and stay with him or raise the kid alone, and he will not acknowledge either of them.”

It was also reported that Payne had physically abused Henry, pushing her down a flight of stairs and chasing her around with an ax.

In a statement, Henry shared, “Anyone who has been with an addict understands how difficult that is, while I loved him deeply, he did things that hurt me in ways I’ll never fully understand, and he continued to hurt me years after we broke up.”

Payne was known as a vocal advocate for the LGBTQ community. In a conversation with Attitude magazine in October 2015, he commented, “It’s strange to me that countries are still refusing to pass the law. I just don’t understand why it’s taking them so long… We live in a time where everything is a lot more acceptable, but certain countries won’t move on. It’s made into a bigger issue than it should have been by people who are holding on to history. You can’t live in the past; you have to move with the times.”

Two years after Payne and Henry’s split, Henry sent Payne a cease-and-desist letter, accusing her of sending her and her family “unsolicited and disturbing images and videos.”