Liam Payne feels "lucky" to be alive, after admitting he battled suicidal thoughts whilst in One Direction.
The 25-year-old singer has been paving his way as a solo artist since the boy band went on hiatus in late 2015, and has now admitted he’s thankful for the break, as the hectic schedule of the group "nearly killed" him.
Speaking on his upcoming documentary, ‘Ant Middleton and Liam Payne: Straight Talking’, which he appears in alongside former soldier Ant Middleton, he said: "For some certain circumstances I’m quite lucky to be here still.
"There are times when that level of loneliness and people getting into you every day, it’s like, ‘When will this end?’ That’s almost nearly killed me a couple of times."
And when asked by Ant if he’d ever wanted to act on his thoughts, Liam added: "Yeah, when I’ve been in a bad place. It’s one hundred per cent, you know. There’s no point denying it – it’s definitely been on the menu a couple of times in my life."
The ‘Bedroom Floor’ hitmaker – who has two-year-old son Bear with his ex-girlfriend Cheryl Tweedy – credits his friends with helping him pull through the difficult period.
He explained: "There’s only one thing you control within that situation and that is you. Just do today. Get on with that bit and then there’ll be another hurdle in a few months, a few weeks or maybe even the next day."
Meanwhile, Liam recently admitted he sought therapy following the ‘History’ hitmakers’ hiatus, because he "went of the rails" and began drinking too much.
He said: "I went into therapy a couple years after leaving. I kind of went off the rails a little bit and just couldn’t really figure out what was making me sad. So, you know, my team got somebody around to help me through a couple of different, difficult things that I was going through.
"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."
Liam Payne feels ‘lucky’ to be alive
