Former model and author Maya Henry has revealed in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE that an unnamed ex pressured her into having an abortion. Some media outlets are presuming that the ex in question is her ex-fiancée Liam Payne, a former member of One Direction, but that is unclear. She also discussed how she had a harrowing experience taking the abortion pill.
“Inspired by true events”
Her new novel, “Looking Forward,” tells the story of a young aspiring model named Mallory and her romance with pop star Oliver. It seems to parallel her own relationship with Payne.
“Obviously the book is fiction,” Henry told PEOPLE, but it’s “definitely inspired by true events… [The main character] Mallory is very similar to me, and that’s why it was very easy for me to write her character and put the emotion in there. I’m just grateful that I have this opportunity and platform to really help be a voice for women.”
In the book, Oliver becomes abusive and at one point pressures Mallory into an abortion by giving her an ultimatum: the baby or him.
“I drew inspiration [from my real life], and I wanted to include a scene like that in the book because while not everyone dates a pop star, I feel like everyone dates someone like Oliver,” she said of a moment when Oliver shatters a light fixture in anger. “I feel like it was just important for women to be seen in that way, and can relate and not feel like they’re alone in whatever they’re going through.”
“I did have to go to the hospital alone…”
In the book, Mallory goes through with the abortion but suffers severe complications and must go to the hospital for hemorrhaging. Henry said the abortion experience she wrote for Mallory is similar to her own experience with the abortion pill.
She also noted that her feelings and experiences related to the abortion were downplayed… by men.
“What I went through in real life is very similar to what Mallory went through in the book. I definitely did have some complications, and I did have to go to the hospital alone,” she said. “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.”
And yet, Planned Parenthood itself describes a chemical abortion in the exact same way. “It’s kind of like having a really heavy, crampy period, and the process is very similar to having an early miscarriage,” their site says.
“I wouldn’t have done it”
Henry added, “If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have done it. But then also, if I were to have made a different decision, then I would’ve lost the person that I loved. There were definitely difficult conversations about it. But looking back now, things happen for a reason” (emphasis added).
In other words — she, like her book character, was coerced into an abortion by a man who threatened that he would end their relationship if she gave birth to their child. Now, she comforts herself with trite sayings instead of allowing herself to truly feel grief and anger over the death of her child, which can hinder post-abortion healing.
Live Action’s “Pro-Choice Men” video below is satire, but reflects the truth about many men and the way they have grown accustomed to treating women (and their preborn children):
According to PEOPLE, a “source close to” Henry said the abortion was “physically and mentally” draining for her. “It broke my heart seeing her like that when she’s usually always so happy and positive. That was hands down the lowest point of her life, and it didn’t have to be that way.”
PEOPLE appears to link Payne to the abortion by stating, “Though Henry and Payne remained together after the abortion experience, they eventually ended their relationship for good in the spring of 2022,” despite the fact that Payne was never specified as the individual involved.
Henry is not the first celebrity to share that she was pressured into an abortion. Last year, Britney Spears revealed in her memoir that Justin Timberlake pressured her into an abortion two decades ago. She explained that the pregnancy “was a surprise, but for me, it wasn’t a tragedy.” Justin, however, reportedly “said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives.” She called the experience “excruciating.”
Studies have shown that 64% of women who have undergone an abortion reveal they felt at least some form of pressure to abort — whether that was from their boyfriend or family members, or it was due to educational or financial pressures they felt at the time.
