Sadly for some boy band veterans, life doesn't always go in one direction.
Let's strip down the shady side of Liam Payne.
While in One Direction, Zayn Malik and Liam Payne seemed to be the closest in the group. However,
when Malik left the group in 2015, Payne was the most vocal about his displeasure.
In 2017, after Malik revealed the mental and physical toll the grueling One Direction schedule
took on him, Payne publicly dismissed it. He said in a Teen Vogue interview,
​​"One Direction was a wonderful, wonderful time in all of our lives. It was like uni,
but on steroids. It was mad. It was madness. It was so much fun. I don't understand how
you can come out of that experience and say the things that he says sometimes."
The shade against Malik continued when Payne appeared on Logan Paul's "Impaulsive" podcast in
2022. Payne took aim at Malik's relationship with Gigi Hadid and his upbringing. Payne
seemed to make light of Malik's alleged altercation with Yolanda Hadid and alluded
to Malik's own parents being unsupportive of him. He said about his former friend,
"Your only hope is that, at some point in their life, the person on the other
end of the phone wants to receive the help you're willing to give them."
Liam Payne not only took aim at Zayn Malik,
but also bandmate Louis Tomlinson. Payne revealed that he and Tomlinson were total
opposites who butted heads frequently. He said on the "Impaulsive" podcast,
"Louis was wild and he wanted to be wild — that's his spirit. He's my best mate now,
but in the band, we hated each other. Like, to come to blows hate each other."
And though he didn't name Tomlinson, Payne also
described one moment when he and another unnamed bandmate got physical backstage.
"There was an argument backstage and one member, in particular, threw me up a wall. So I said to
him, 'If you don't remove those hands, there's a high likelihood you'll never use them again.'"
As the remaining members of One Direction kicked off their solo endeavors in
2016, they each expressed how supportive they were of each other. In 2017 when
asked for thoughts on Harry Styles' and Niall Horan's solo music careers,
Liam Payne didn't hold back. He told Music Choice that Horan's debut songs
were "really cool" but described Styles' "Sign of The Times" as not his cup of tea.
"It's not my sort of music so it's not something I
would listen to ... That's the way I'd put it best, I think."
Payne has also made it known he's not much of a fan of Styles' new fashion sense. In
an interview with The Face, the singer implied that his former bandmate has drastically changed
from his One Direction days to the point where he feels like a stranger. He said,
"I don't know what more I'd say to him other than,
'Hello' and ​'How are you?'" I mean, look at the stuff I put out,
and the stuff Harry puts out. Polar opposite. I'm like the antichrist version of what Harry is."
Payne's jabs didn't end there. When Glamour Magazine asked
which band member he'd let babysit, Payne passed on selecting Styles.
"I couldn't rely on Harry 'cos I feel like my child
would come out dressed in something that I just wouldn't understand."
While airing out all the One Direction dirty laundry to Logan Paul on the "Impaulsive" podcast,
Liam Payne also revealed what he considers the true origin story of the group. Payne
alleges that Simon Cowell formed the group around him first. Payne
had initially auditioned for X Factor at 14 years old and Cowell eventually booted him
off but not before making a promise to Payne that in two years he'd help him make it big.
Two years later, Payne returned and before facing elimination again,
Cowell selected him and four other boys to form a group.
"So he kind of started with my face and worked out around the rest. I've never told this
story before. I was the honorary member of One Direction [...] He told me this story himself."
Payne even declared himself the most successful solo artist from the group. When speaking on
his first solo single "Strip That Down", he made another claim that confused people -
"We did the first song, a billion streams. *pchow*
I think it outsold everybody within the band and I was the last to go, and I never expected that."
This pop star beef has since been squashed, but Liam Payne and Justin Bieber had a shady back and
forth that went on for years. The drama between the two singers started after Payne made reference
to Bieber's past arrest in a Twitter spat with a fan. In 2015, a Belieber tweeted at Payne to let
him know that he will never be more successful than the "Baby" singer. Payne responded,
"How many times have I been arrested."
In 2015, Bieber struck back against One Direction on Snapchat. As Bieber and One
Direction prepared to drop albums on the same day, the rivalry sparked up again.
Bieber posted a picture of him making a scared face on Snapchat and wrote,
"The face you make when you come out with an album the same day as Justin Bieber."
In 2019, Payne explained to the Mirror that the long-standing
beef between the two was put to rest after they spoke one-on-one and cleared the air.
After a run-in with Liam Payne at the 2013 Brit Awards, singer Boy
George blasted him on Twitter claiming he was rude to him and his niece. He tweeted
"Top marks to Harry Styles for stopping for a picture with my
niece and Bo–ox's to Liam and the disrespectful w–ker of a minder!"
Payne responded back with a string of tweets defending himself writing,
"Now now boy lets not tell porkies. Firstly thanks for getting my name wrong three times, then asking
me where is liam?...awkward. Then when you finally got it right saying you wanted Niall instead."
He also took aim at George's style and wrote,
"Can I borrow a hat and make up for next Halloween I'd love to look as scary as you."
However, not all love was lost. In 2019, Payne appeared on "Watch What
Happens Live with Andy Cohen" and explained the misunderstanding. He
revealed that the two have since made up and have laughed about their Twitter feud.
Liam Payne welcoming a child in 2017 with singer Cheryl Cole shocked fans everywhere.
In 2020, his approach to fatherhood made headlines. Payne revealed to
Tings Magazine that he made a decision to take time away from his son saying,
"But we discussed from the start and for different reasons, me and Cheryl decided
I should be away for a little bit. It's not unusual for me to be in and out of
his life. He's quite a chill child. He doesn't worry about things too much."
"I had a job that somebody booked in by accident on his birthday,
which I was like 'This is terrible.' I got the news and I was like 'Oh my goodness."
"Bad dad."
Payne was then slammed as an absent father on social media. Payne retaliated by taking
to his Instagram and called out "clickbait" articles. He wrote,
"Usually I let these things slide but this is completely out of context…I couldn't see
my son because of the worldwide pandemic that is happening not
because I had anything wrong with me like this headline hints at."
Payne wasn't the only one unhappy with his interviews going viral. The Mirror reported
that Cheryl Cole was left feeling upset and embarrassed after Payne went into too much detail
about her birthing experience on the "Impaulsive" podcast in 2022. The source claimed she was not
a fan of his oversharing and had a serious discussion with him about privacy boundaries.
Following the success of his debut single "Strip That Down", Liam Payne's follow-up
song "Both Ways" was more of a miss. The song features Payne singing about getting intimate
with a bisexual partner. Fans immediately called out the star on Twitter for lyrics that
they believed fetishized bisexuality. The title of the song also caught flack. One fan wrote,
"Can we talk about how not only is both ways gross for the way
it treats bisexual women as sex objects but also the fact that the phrase liking
'both ways' is a completely outdated and offensive way to describe being bisexual.
Payne later addressed the controversy and apologized for the offensive lyrics.
He claimed that he's felt pressured to continue singing racy lyrics after the
success of songs like "Strip That Down." In an interview with Daily Star, the singer said,
"I am sorry to anyone who got offended by certain songs or different things on
the album for sure. It was never my intention with any of the writing or
things I was doing [...] I'd say the new music will be less sexy. I think I passed
my time on that one anyway [...] The music I am looking at now is a lot different."
As a boyband member, Liam Payne is used to breaking hearts. His most recent relationship
with Maya Henry got off to a publicized start. Henry was allegedly only 18 years
old when the pair began dating — a claim that Payne and his team heavily refuted.
In 2020, Payne confirmed that the two were engaged in an interview on Good
Morning America. The relationship seemed to be going well until April 2022 when
news broke that the two decided to break off their engagement.
Just two days later, Payne was seen with a new girl on his arm and chaos ensued. As fans began
bombarding Henry with questions, she was forced to issue a response. Underneath an
Instagram photo of Payne and his new girlfriend Aliana Mawla, she wrote,
"I love all of the fans so much but please stop sending me these pictures
of my fiancé wrapped around another woman. This is not me and it's hard
enough knowing this has happened without seeing it. Enough now."
This only fueled rumors that Payne was caught cheating on
her with Mawla. After the story went viral, a rep for Mawla spoke with E!
News and denied that there was any overlap in the two relationships.