Liam Payne seemed happy and content in the days before his death, joking with his girlfriend over breakfast as he shared his plans for the day with fans, including horseback riding and a game of polo.
But psychologists who spoke to DailyMail.com said there were subtle signs the singer was still struggling with addiction and mental health.
Dr. Janette Nesheiwat is an emergency medicine expert in New York City who often treats people who come to the hospital with mental problems.
She said in response to his most recent public appearances and social media posts that he He seemed “frail, had lost weight and perhaps wasn’t sleeping enough” despite being on vacation for two weeks.
In Payne’s post to fans from his hotel in Argentina, experts said he appeared despondent, suggesting he was experiencing mental anguish before his death.
And Dr. Robi Ludwig, a New York City psychotherapist who specializes in mood and thought disorders, said, “He seems depressed and, in some cases, like he hasn’t taken good care of himself.”
Payne’s death at age 31 shocked the entertainment world on Wednesday, given the star’s positive posts online just hours earlier.
Hours before his fatal fall in Buenos Aires, Payne posted a selfie on Snapchat for his fans with the caption: “Beautiful day in Argentina (heart emoji).”
Dr Ludwig told DailyMail.com: ‘Message about the beautiful day in Argentina – the text did not match the image in the photo.
‘He looks quite dejected in the image next to an optimistic text. Maybe this gives an idea of how he presented himself: a positive message about something he was experiencing, something else inside him.’
She also posted photos of her attractive hotel room with the caption: “Happy to have had some time off.”
Dr Ludwig added: “Being happy that you had some time off probably meant there was something you wanted to get away from.”
“Attention to nature represents a desire to heal.”
The star heartbreakingly said he was “happy to have some time off” less than an hour before he died. Experts said this suggested he might have been running from something.
Payne appeared to be in high spirits in the days and hours before his death, posing for photographs with fans and signing autographs. Dr. Ludwig said that in photos with his fans, Payne looks “grateful, kind and generous.”
A TikTok video posted by fans shows a person named Guillo telling Payne that he “saved my life in so many ways” and showing the 31-year-old how he had gotten the same tattoos on his body.
Payne hugged Guillo and said it was a ‘pleasure’ to meet him and thanked him for his kind words, saying they could take some ‘great photos’ and asking him his ‘name’.
Just a few hours later he fell from the third-floor balcony of his hotel.
After his fatal fall, Argentine police found in his room a bottle of whiskey, a lighter, aluminum foil and a telephone that could belong to Payne, as well as a white powder and medications such as clonazepam and energy pills.
Mental health experts told DailyMail.com that in the days and weeks before Payne’s death, he “appeared depressed”, appeared “frail” and appeared “disheveled”.
Liam Payne (pictured in Argentina) may have been “semi-conscious or completely unconscious” when he fatally fell from a third-floor hotel balcony, Argentina’s prosecutors said.
A full autopsy, including a blood toxicology test, has not been released, and it is still unclear whether Payne had used drugs before his fall.
Still, doctors said his recent appearances were highly suggestive of substance abuse.
He reportedly broke his laptop and had to be carried from the hotel lobby to his room.
While it is still unclear whether Payne’s fall from a third-floor balcony was an intentional suicide or a tragic accident, mental health professionals speculated that he had recently fallen back into his drug and alcohol habit to deal with his problems. emotional.
Dr Ludwig added: “We don’t know if he was sober, although he could have said so.”
In February, Payne posted a video on TikTok detailing the making of his new song called ‘Teardrops’, in which he sings ‘I don’t know how to love you when I’m broken too / Maybe your words make sense / It could be the problem, I’m so sorry .’
The image shows a table in Payne’s hotel room in Argentina, where he jumped from a third-floor balcony to his death.
The video begins with Payne sobbing into his hands.
Dr Nesheiwat said: “He was very emotional when he watched the video. He was vulnerable and open. Liam had a well-known history of struggling with drugs and alcohol, which he spoke openly about in interviews.
His history of substance abuse likely caused him to behave more impulsively or “appear more tired and disheveled than usual,” according to Dr. Dakari Quimby, a clinical psychologist in Los Angeles.
Too often, people struggling with addiction, as Payne has admitted, use substances to self-medicate. Drug abuse often goes hand in hand with mood disorders such as depression and anxiety.
Payne became famous at the age of 14 and rose to fame when he became a member of the boy band One Direction. The major change in your life may have disrupted your development, Dr. Ludwig said, forever impacting the way you make decisions and how you feel about yourself and your sense of self-worth.
In his years of touring and press engagements, Payne said he had endless access to alcohol while locked in a hotel room, and even became agoraphobic at one point and couldn’t leave.
Matt Kurdish, a trained social worker and executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in New York City, said: “I think there’s a lot of evidence that shows that young people who are exposed to this kind of fame lifestyle so early They really have struggled to deal with it.
Brain development, particularly the frontal lobes (where logic, reasoning and decision-making take place), continues in young people until around age 25.
Kurdish said, “When you add up all the fame and the constant watching and speculation on social media and fans, it puts a lot of pressure on people, especially young people, who may not have the tools and resources.” I still have to deal with that kind of pressure.