Liam Payne's bid to reconcile with One Direction as fans make sad realisation after he's gone

Liam faced a severe backlash on social media in the weeks leading up to his death, as some fans alleged he wasn’t close with his former One Direction bandmates after the boyband went on hiatus

Liam Payne has been admired for his role as One Direction's 'peacemaker', following his death.

The 31-year-old singer died this week after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with authorities launching an investigation into the tragic incident. Fans were left heartbroken by Liam’s sudden passing, and they sobbed as Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik each paid tribute to the Strip That Down hitmaker in their own personal eulogies on social media.

Fans had praised Liam's dedication to his bandmates - noting he had championed Niall Horan by watching his tour days before he died and was also seen on camera praising Zayn Malik, who quit the band in 2015. As each of the fivesome went solo, Liam continued to show his support for his peers - though he admitted it hadn't always been plain-sailing between them.

Following his death, fans have noticed that Liam is the only 1D member to keep up to date with his bandmates' official Instagrams as he followed every single one of them on social media, with Louis following him back.

The duo have spoken about their closeness in recent years, and admitted that even though they hated each other when One Direction began, they were the closest of pals by the time the boyband announced an indefinite hiatus in 2016.

“Me and Louis did not get along. We all got thrown together, and we didn’t know each other when we got made into a band,” Payne said. “Now we are actually the best of friends within the band, which I think is absolutely hilarious,” he told Entertainment Tonight in 2021.

Liam spoke candidly about his bandmates in his controversial interview with Logan Paul in 2022, and faced a backlash after calling Louis “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, come-to-blows hated each other. It was close,” he shared.

Later in the same interview, he spoke about his relationship with Zayn, and admitted there were “many reasons” he had disliked Zayn, but insisted he was still family, as he claimed it was their different upbringings that impacted their friendship. “You can always look at the man for where he is and say 'oh yeah whatever that guy's a d***k', but at the end of the day you have to understand what he's been through to get to that point,” Liam explained.

“I don't agree with any of his actions. I can't commend some of the things that he's done. I can't be on his side for that. 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,” he added.

He also spent time with Niall in the days before his tragic death, as Liam was in Argentina to see his former bandmate perform in Buenos Aires. “Going to Argentina to see Nialler. Niall Horan is playing down there and I think we might just go to say hello. It's been a while since me and Niall have spoken. We've got a lot to talk about. And I would like to square up a couple of things up with the boy. No bad vibes or anything like that. But just ... we need to talk,” Liam cryptically shared.

Rumours of bad blood between Liam and former bandmate Harry Styles were rife after the Strip That Down singer admitted in 2017 that Harry's debut solo single ‘Sign Of The Times’ was "not my sort of music". But Liam later opened up about the misconstrued comment, saying his criticism came from a place of insecurity.

When Harry walked away from the 2023 Grammys with two awards - Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album – for his record Harry's House - Liam was full of praise in an unlikely Instagram post, which drove fans wild.

The singer posted a black and white snap of Harry as he gazed down proudly at his Grammy and wrote: "Wow... this image is really something to wake up to and when you write music like you do Harry you deserve every millisecond of that moment looking down smiling at the trophy you've earned. God bless you brother congratulations."

Liam also rushed to Harry's defence when he faced criticism for his groundbreaking Vogue cover, making history as the first male to appear solo on the cover of the US edition since it was first printed 128 years ago, and posing in a striking grey dress. "I thought it was great", Liam said. "I think he's enjoying himself and he's free to do as he wishes and you know I just think that people don't need to be so bothered about stuff."

Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTubeand Threads.