Liam Payne, a pop star who was formerly a member of the mega-group One Direction, died last year after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, with toxicology reports revealing he had cocaine, alcohol, and antidepressants in his system. Prior to his death, his life appeared to have been on a downward spiral for years; he battled addiction, distributed revenge porn against ex-girlfriends, and allegedly pressured at least one ex to have an abortion.
A new Rolling Stone investigation delved into Payne’s life, noting that Payne had become sober in 2018 upon meeting Maya Henry, a model. Within a year, they were engaged to be married.
But Henry hinted last year in a book she wrote before Payne’s death, that she had an abortion. In one scene, a character named Mallory was pressured by her boyfriend to have an abortion. A source close to Henry alleged to Rolling Stone that “Liam struggled with his sexuality,” and that “During his relationship with Maya, he sexted men.”
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Henry allegedly discovered that Payne was drinking and using drugs again — and she discovered she was pregnant.“Liam sent Maya a long message saying it’s either get an abortion and stay with him, or raise the kid alone and he will not acknowledge either of them,” the anonymous source told Rolling Stone. “This was a surprise to Maya, because Liam wanted to have a family, and they were trying for a kid.”
In her book, Henry detailed what she presumably experienced during the abortion: complications and hemorrhaging so severe, she had to be hospitalized.
“What I went through in real life is very similar to what Mallory went through in the book,” Henry claimed. “I definitely did have some complications, and I did have to go to the hospital alone.” She added:
It was very lonely, having these men tell you, ‘Oh, it’s going to feel like a heavy period, it’s not going to be that painful, it’s going to be easy.’ But I’m like, you’ve never even gone through anything like [this], so how would you know to tell me?
That’s why I wanted to include it in the book, because I’ve seen so many people online talk about taking the abortion pill and it was the most painful thing for them. It’s just mind-boggling to me that you could tell a woman how they’re going to feel.
By 2022, Henry and Payne ended their relationship for good, and according to Rolling Stone, it had become violent, with “instances when Payne allegedly chased Henry with an axe, pushed her down a flight of stairs, and revealed sexting conversations with strangers to her by accidentally broadcasting them to their TV.” But in a statement provided to Rolling Stone, Henry said that she had loved Payne deeply, despite all the pain he had caused her, and said that those who have had relationships with addicts can understand what she went through.
“I put myself in situations that were unsafe and harmful, ignoring every red flag,” she told Rolling Stone. “I knew there were parts of himself he was struggling with — parts of his identity he wasn’t ready to fully face, even within our relationship.… In the end, it wasn’t just the betrayals or the addictions that broke us — it was the realization that I had spent years in something that was never what I thought it was. I don’t fault him for his struggles.”
Editor’s Note: If you are a victim of domestic violence, please visit thehotline.org or call 1-800-799-SAFE.
