Liam Payne has opened up about living an alcohol-free life. After spending nearly 100 days in a Louisiana rehab facility, the English singer posted an eight-minute video on YouTube on Saturday revealing that he has been sober for nearly six months. “I just kind of feel like I’ve got more of a grip on life and everything that was getting away from me, I just feel like I’ve got more of a handle on it,” said Payne, 29. “I just needed to take a little bit of time out for myself actually because I kind of became somebody who I didn’t really recognize anymore. And I’m sure you guys didn’t either. I was in bad shape up until that point and I was really happy to kind of put a stopper to life and work.” While away, Payne was completely cut off, he said, in order to focus on his recovery. “I didn’t have my phone for nearly 100 days,” the English singer said. “I didn’t connect with the outside world at all. Upon leaving, the hardest part was turning the phone back on because it was a little bit scary.”
Although the approach “worked to a certain extent,” Payne said, “there was still little things that I had to deal with for myself.” He then went to Dubai, where he had an “ah-ha” moment at a Hans Zimmer concert in January that inspired him to put an end to his drinking. “I watching this beautiful symphony, I was having a drink, and I thought, ‘You know what, this isn’t really serving me at all, I don’t really need this right now,’ ” Payne recollected. “It’s the first time I’ve ever put a drink down and gone to someone else, ‘You finish this, I don’t need this right now.’ And I haven’t picked one up since, which has almost been six months, which I’m excited about.” “It’s good, it’s good to be in this position,” he said. “I definitely don’t need those things anymore. The party’s over.” Since then, Payne has been trying to get to know himself as a “new guy.” “I’m very lucky, thanks to you guys at home and thanks to this wonderful life that I have, that I had a vehicle to do that, which is music.”
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It has also been necessary for Payne to reevaluate his past behavior in order to move forward. In an interview with Men’s Health Australia in 2019, Payne revealed in an interview with the magazine that he found fame difficult when he was part of One Direction and often turned to alcohol to deal with it. “It’s almost like putting the Disney costume on before you step up on stage, and underneath the Disney costume I was pissed quite a lot of the time because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on,” he told the outlet. “I mean, it was fun. We had an absolute blast, but there were certain parts of it where it just got a little bit toxic.” As a group, One Direction went on hiatus in 2015, and all members have pursued solo careers since then, with Payne releasing LP1 as his debut solo album in 2019.
“My own frustrations with my own career and where I kind landed, I took shots at everybody else which is wrong,” Payne said Saturday on YouTube. “So obviously, I want to apologize for that because obviously, that is not me. …You don’t really realize the impact that your words might have on other people.” He noted that all former One Direction members “really stuck by” him. “When I needed them most they kind of came to my rescue, even Zayn as well,” said Payne. However, Payne didn’t regret the interview he gave to Logan Paul in June 2022, in which he criticized his former One Direction bandmates, including Zayn Malik, claiming he “disliked” them. Emphasizing his new “humble” attitude, Payne said, “It’s probably one of those life-changing moments that saved my life in a way.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse or addiction, please call the National Drug Helpline at (844) 289-0879.
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