Louis Tomlinson Remembers Liam Payne as ‘Very Misunderstood’ Ahead of First Death Anniversary

Louis Tomilson felt the negative public perception of Liam Payne before his passing was not representative of who he was as a person.

The singer-songwriter, 33, gave an interview to Rolling Stone UK, published Tuesday, October 7 — a little over a week before the one-year anniversary of Payne’s passing — and got candid about his late One Direction bandmate.

“He was just a very misunderstood person, I think, from a public perspective,” Tomlinson told the outlet. “If there is ever any judgment on his character, I think nine times out of 10, you can reflect on that, and the reflection is that he was someone who just wanted to be liked.”

As Rolling Stone pointed out, Payne received a lot of criticism for comments he made about his One Direction bandmates on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast in 2022.

“Anyone who knew him [Liam] personally would know how deeply unfair that was,” Tomilson added. “Anything that he got wrong in life, Liam — which, by the way, we all do daily – it was never through malice. It was only through miscommunication — him just not being able to express himself in the way he needed to.”

As for how the “Just Hold On” singer has coped with Payne’s death, he admitted, “It was really, really, impossibly difficult for me to deal with losing Liam,” and pointed out how “it’s very different” losing a friend.

On October 16, 2024, Payne tragically perished after falling from the balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was 31 years old.