Liam Payne is opening up about his career, sobriety and his controversial appearance on Logan Paul’s podcast in a new YouTube video. The former One Direction memberwas on the receiving end of widespread backlash after his episode of “Impaulsive” with Paul touched on his negative feelings about his time in the boy band.
Among the many details shared with Paul, Payne pulled back the curtain on the moment he almost “came to blows” with another bandmate backstage and aired out his grievances against other ex-members — most notably against Zayn Malik.
“One of the biggest remarks I made was about the One Direction thing… and a lot of self-protection, I suppose, in that moment, more than anything,” Payne said in the new video that was uploaded to his YouTube account on July 8. “The rest of the boys really stuck by me when I needed them most, they kinda came to the rescue. Even Zayn, as well, which is why I did send him a little thank you online. It came across really big-headed didn’t it?”
He continues, “A lot of what I said came from the wrong place. I was so angry at what was going on around me and instead of taking a look inwards I decided to look outwards at everybody else and I just think yeah I took it out on everybody else, which is just wrong, really.”
Payne goes on to explain how this, paired with numerous difficult experiences, led him to begin a sobrietytreatment program in Louisiana. He also revealed that he’s nearly 6 months sober after spending 100 days receiving help at the facility.
“I have had a lot of time to recollect over those moments. I kinda had to go away to kinda get better. The whole thing up to that point was just a scramble to stay relevant,” he said. Despite regretting the comments he made on Paul’s podcast, Payne said he now sees the event as “life-changing [moment] that saved my life in a way,” and said he has “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.”
Payne celebrated 100 days of sobriety in May and also announced a South and Latin American tour, slated to take place later this fall. Elsewhere in the video, the entertainer shared updates on both his struggle and successes as a father and thanked fans for sticking by him throughout his tumultuous journey.
