Liam Payne Says He & Louis Tomlinson Used To Hate Each Other

Liam Payne, former One Direction bandmate, was briefly back in the limelight after comments about his former bandmates on a podcast went viral. During the appearance on the Logan Paul podcast Impaulsive, Payne mentioned that he and Louis Tomlinson used to hate each other, and also spoke about feuds he had with Zayn Malik.

The singer recalled meeting his bandmates when they appeared as solo contestants on The X Factor. He said most of the members were “rowdy guys” while he was much more reclusive, which caused some tensions between him and other members early on.

When pressed about who the rowdiest band member was, Payne said, “Louis was wild and he wanted to be wild.” Liam also added that they’re friends now, but “in the band, we hated each other. Like, to come to blows hate each other, it was close.”

Payne’s first mention of Malik came up first when discussing drama pertaining to Payne’s interviewer, Logan Paul, who claimed along with his brother Jake that Malik was rude to them in Vegas. Malik’s then-partner, Gigi Hadid, responded with an insult for Jake and called Malik a “respectful king.”

Lol cause he doesn’t care to hang w you and your embarrassing crew of YouTube groupies ..? Home alone with his best friends like a respectful king cause he has me, sweetie. Unbothered by your irrelevant ugly ass. Go to bed …

— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) February 23, 2020

Payne joked that Hadid’s tweet “didn’t age very well,” in reference to Malik pleading guilty to harassment charges relating to an argument he had with Gigi’s mother, Yolanda Hadid.

Payne also said, “I don’t agree with any of his actions. I can’t commend some of the stuff he’s done. I can’t be on his side for that. What I can say is I understand and your only hope is that at some point in their life, the person at the other end of the phone wants to receive the help that you’re willing to give them.”

Detractors of the former boy band star accuse him of oversharing about his band-mates in a way that none of the rest of them have. He eventually responded to online criticism on Twitter, admitting, “I didn’t articulate myself as well as I could have.”

He still maintained that he and Malik don’t see eye to eye on everything, but clarified, “That’s family. Zayn is my brother and I will stand by him forever.” None of the other One Direction members have gotten involved in this drama publicly.

I was saying that there will always be things we disagree on but that I will always, always be on his side. That’s family. Zayn is my brother and I will stand by him forever.

— Liam (@LiamPayne) June 2, 2022