Liam Payne has opened up about how leaving One Direction negatively affected his mental health, revealing he “kind of went off the rails a little bit”.
Speaking to British GQ, the musician explained he went into therapy a few years after leaving the band, which announced a hiatus in 2015, and “couldn’t really figure out what was making [him] sad”.
“So, you know, my team got somebody around to help me through a couple of different, difficult things that I was going through,” Payne continued.
“I was just trying to figure myself out. It was just such a strange course through life, and then when the switch turns off you’re left to your own devices…”
The 26-year-old, who has a two-year-old son with former Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Tweedy, went on to allude to a period of heavy drinking that became a problem at around the same time.
“I was drinking too much and getting into really bad, bad situations for quite some time actually,” Payne said.
“And I hit a peak moment where I knew the drinking was going to get me; I needed to do something about it. I spent a lot of time drinking to escape the crazy world that I had created for myself.”
In his first therapy session, Payne recalled being asked what he enjoyed doing and what he liked about himself and being unable to answer either question.
“It was pretty scary stuff,” he added, before revealing that he went sober for roughly one year, but soon changed tack when he realised his social life was dwindling.
“In a strange way I am trying to still figure all that out and get the balance right between being a party animal and being an animal in the gym – the latter not being fun at all,” Payne continued.
“We are all at fault; we all need balance.”
You can read the full interview with GQ here.
