Liam Payne was acting erratically and had to be escorted back to his hotel room before plunging to his death, with staff making a panicked call to police.
The former One Direction star fell from the third floor into the courtyard of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires yesterday before medics confirmed his death. He was 31.
Police in Argentina were contacted by a member of hotel staff who reported ‘an aggressive man who may have been under the effects of drugs and alcohol.’
Before the singer, who was born in Wolverhampton, was found dead shortly after five o’clock in the evening local time, staff heard a loud noise in the hotel courtyard shortly after.
The star was said to have been ‘acting erratically in the hotel lobby and smashed his laptop’ before he ‘had to be carried back to his room’, according to local media.
After establishing the boy band One Direction on The X Factor in 2010 with Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Harry Styles, Payne became well-known at sixteen.
After police blocked off the area and forensic investigators in blue gloves and white protective suits were spotted coming and going, shocked fans gathered outside.
In an unplanned vigil, they were observed burning candles and decorating the side of the road with flowers in honour of the adored musician.
According to audio linked to the case that was retrieved from the security ministry of Buenos Aires, police in Argentina had received a call from a hotel employee urgently asking for assistance with an intoxicated visitor.
The worker said: ‘When he is conscious, he is destroying the entire room and we need you to send someone.’
Emergency medical services director Alberto Crescenti said Payne had suffered ‘very serious injuries after falling from a third floor into an internal courtyard’.
‘We verified his identity using the passport he had,’ he added.
Mr Crescenti told Argentine newspaper Clarin that ‘the team saw that he apparently had a fracture at the base of the skull’.
His body was taken to a nearby mortuary so that a postmortem could be performed.
Mr Crescenti said Payne had fallen around 45 feet (14 meters) and suffered ‘severe injuries which were incompatible with life’.
He said, ‘The alarm was raised at 5.04 local time, saying a person was lying in an internal patio at Casa Sur. At 5.11 pm, an ambulance arrived and the man was certified dead.
‘Afterwards, we found out he had been a famous singer. Unfortunately, the injuries he had suffered as a result of the fall proved to be fatal. There was no possibility of resuscitating him.’
Since then, unconfirmed photos have surfaced online purporting to show Payne’s hotel room destroyed, with one photo even featuring a broken television screen.
Liam Payne appeared to be a terribly lost man. At the age of sixteen, he was renowned worldwide for both his wealth and notoriety. His career ended at age 22. Most people begin their professions at that age. Compared to the other members of the group, Liam might not have had a strong enough support system when One Direction dissolved. Hopefully, he has found peace from his demons.
Sadly, people believe that fame, adulation, relevance, and wealth will last forever with people constantly catering to their every whim which can create a distorted view of the world and those around them. Some celebrities manage to navigate their turmoil and emerge stronger, but sadly, others fall victim to their struggles.
Entertainment industry fame is the most intensely bipolar form of fame, and sadly, no one knows what goes on inside someone’s head, and it can be a lonely, tortured place to be!
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 