Liam Payne issues apology admitting One Direction criticism was "scramble to stay relevant"
Liam Payne has issued an apology admitting that his previous criticism of One Direction was a "scramble to stay relevant".
Posting a heartfelt video to his YouTube channel on June 11, Payne addressed some comments he made about his One Direction bandmates during an appearance on Logan Paul's Impaulsive podcast in 2022.
"A lot of what I said came from the wrong place," Payne explained. "I was so angry at what was going on around me, and instead of taking a look inwards, I decided to look outwards at everybody else. And I just think, yeah, I took it out on everybody else, which is just wrong, really."
Related: Liam Payne writes sweet tribute to One Direction bandmate Louis Tomlinson
He continued: "My own frustrations with my own career and where I kind of landed, I took shots at everybody else, which is wrong, so obviously I want to apologise for that in the first instance, because that's definitely not me."
Discussing his remarks about his bandmates Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan, Payne said they came from a place of "self protection".
"The rest of the boys really stuck by me, and when I needed them the most, they kind of came to the rescue. Even Zayn as well, which is why I did send him a little thank you online, actually," he said.
Related: Love Island's Tommy Fury and One Direction's Liam Payne set to battle it out at Soccer Aid
Payne later discussed the backlash to his comments, calling it a "life-changing moment". He revealed that he spent 100 days in a treatment facility in Louisiana and is now almost 6 months sober.
"I didn't have my phone for nearly 100 days," he said. "I didn't connect with the outside world at all."
“I have had a lot of time to recollect over those moments. I kind of had to go away to kind of get better. The whole thing up to that point was just a scramble to stay relevant."
You Might Also Like
