Louis Tomlinson is opening up about the death of his One Direction bandmate Liam Payne, who died last year after falling from the balcony of his hotel in Argentina.
Speaking with Rolling Stone UK for a cover story, Louis said that it was “really uncomfortable” to mark the 15th anniversary of the formation of 1D earlier this year, because it was the first one the band celebrated without Liam. Still, Louis noted, “The [collective] feeling to celebrate is as important, if not more important than ever, on behalf of Liam.”
“You know, there’s still a level in my head [where it feels] unjust and frustrating that he’s not with us anymore,” Louis continued. He added that the anniversary “just brought up those feelings, although I’m still living with them anyway.”
“It was really, really, impossibly difficult for me to deal with losing Liam. Naively, I thought that because at this point, I’m relatively well versed in grief for my age, that it might soften the blow,” said Louis, whose mother and sister died in 2016 and 2019, respectively.
But he admits, “[That was] super-naive. It’s very different. I’ve never lost a friend before.”
Louis said that within the group, Liam was the “safest pair of hands” due to his previous musical experience.
“We were all just so amateur, but he was already where he needed to be by the time he did his first [X Factor] audition,” Louis said. “[W]e all looked up to him like that.”
Asked what he’d want fans to know about Liam, Louis said, “He was just a very misunderstood person, I think, from a public perspective. … He was someone who just wanted to be liked.”
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