Liam Payne’s death brought Zayn Malik to reflect on his time in One Direction. Although Liam previously explained a tense moment between the two, Zayn seems to have forgiven him
Zayn Malik buried his bitter feud with bandmate Liam Payne after the singer died at age 31.
In his touching tribute, he admitted that there was often tension within One Direction, especially in their own friendship. During one such incident, as Liam explained on the Impaulsive podcast, a member of the band “threw [him] up a wall.” In response, Liam said: If you dont remove those hands, theres a high likelihood youll never use them again.”
While Liam avoided naming the other individual, his now girlfriend Maya Henry made the reveal in a TikTok post. She said: I see this all the time, everywhere, Ive heard this insufferable story so many times. He told me it was Zayn, so…”
Liam Payne posted 45 minutes before his death in shirtless Snapchat next to bikini-clad woman
Zayn did not directly acknowledge that particular incident, but did explain that he held respect for Liam. Zayn wrote on Instagram: “Even though you were younger than me you were always more sensible than me, you were headstrong, opinionated, and gave no f–ks about telling people they were wrong. Even though we butted heads because of this a few times, I always secretly respected you for it.”
While the band formerly entered a hiatus in 2016, Zayn was the first to quit One Direction in March 2015. The announcement was devastating for fans, by the band continued to power through their tour dates and released a final album without Zayn. While the original statement appeared amicable, online tension rose between Zayn and the other members.
Liam died on Oct. 16 after falling from a third story hotel balcony in Argentina. The authorities are still investigating the details of his death, but he reportedly was exhibiting erratic behavior, including smashing his laptop, in the hotel lobby. A caller to 9-1-1 claimed the star was “on drugs” and destroying his room.
A few months after Zayn left the band, he teamed up with Naughty Boy who posted a photo of the pair together with the caption “Replace this.”
When Zayn reposted the picture, Louis Tomlinson quickly slammed it, indirectly shading Zayn. He wrote: “Remember when you were 12 and you used to think those Mac filters for your pictures were cool haha ! Some people still do HA!”
Zayn didn’t waste time, clapping back quickly. He wrote: “Remember when you had a life and stopped making b—hy comments about mine?”
The 2015 incident quickly faded away as the band grew up and seemingly grew apart. In recent years, Zayn charmed fans when he posted brief clips, covering old One Direction songs. This came as a surprise to many, including Louis, who gave the post a like. According to Rolling Stone, he said: He’s a different caliber in terms of singer, Zayn, definitely. I will say that. I wasn’t just liking it for the sake of liking it. It was a nice feeling ’cause, you know, in the past he’s said what he’s said about the band.
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