Liam Payne says his time in One Direction was "a little bit toxic".
The 25-year-old singer has admitted that he struggled to cope at times during the height of One Direction’s fame and he believes that the music industry needs to do more to care for the mental health of its performers.
Speaking to Men’s Health Australia, Liam said: "When you’re doing hundreds and hundreds of [concerts] and it’s the same 22 songs at the same time every single day, even if you’re not happy, you’ve got to go out there. It’s almost like putting the Disney costume on before you step up on stage and underneath the Disney costume I was p***ed quite a lot of the time because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on. I mean it was fun. We had an absolute blast but there were certain parts of it where it just got a little bit toxic.
"It’s difficult when you have the level of fame that we had in the band. There have been a lot of people in trouble with mental health that aren’t really getting the help that they need and I think that’s a bit of a problem in our industry. It’s the same sh*t that happens to everyone, that’s been happening since the 70’s. You know what the traps are and if you are lucky enough, like me, to be able to get out of that scenario and back into a sense of normality, then you know it’s a bit different."
When asked if he ever felt in control during his time in One Direction, Liam answered "no, never," before adding: "I still struggle with it now. I really struggle to say no because I don’t like to let people down. It’s in my nature."
One Direction – which is also comprised of Niall Horan, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson – went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016 so that the group members could focus on their solo careers.
Founding member Zayn Malik left the group in 2015.
Liam Payne: ‘Certain parts of 1D fame were toxic’
