Photo: Ben Gabbe/Getty
Liam Payne’s ex-fiancée, Maya Henry, is reportedly in a state of shock after the singer’s death tragically mirrored the warnings he once gave her. Henry, who has been promoting her book Looking Forward, which centers on a girl who falls in love with a pop star, had previously dismissed Payne’s claims about his health as a “manipulation tactic.”
According to a source close to Henry, who spoke to Daily Mail, “Right now she is obviously in shock” following the 31-year-old One Direction alum’s death on Wednesday. The 23-year-old author and model only found out about the incident when a member of her team was contacted by a reporter.
Just days before his passing, Henry had publicly accused Payne of using emotional manipulation during their relationship, particularly by making grim claims about his health. On the Monday episode of The Internet Is Dead podcast, she shared, “He would always message me ever since we broke up [saying], ‘Oh, I’m not well.’” She further explained that he often played with the idea of death, telling her, “Well, I’m going to die. I’m not doing well.”
Henry recalled one occasion when she attempted to help Payne, but her efforts were futile. “There was one time I tried to get him help and then he was not taking it,” she said, adding that he would resort to contacting her family when she wouldn’t respond. “He would text my mom, ‘I’m not doing well, have Maya contact me,’ because I wouldn’t respond. It’s just always the same cycle.”
In fact, Henry had taken legal steps against Payne just days before his death, instructing her lawyers to issue a cease-and-desist letter. Emergency services responded to an incident at the Casa Sur Palmero hotel in Buenos Aires, where Payne had been staying with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy, who had flown back to the U.S. a few days prior. Foreign media outlets reported that the singer fell from the third floor of the hotel.
A city ambulance provider told Daily Mail, “The alarm was raised at 5:04 pm local time saying a person was lying in an internal patio at Casa Sur.” The ambulance arrived shortly after, and Payne was pronounced dead at the scene at 5:11 pm.
The tragic turn of events has left those close to Henry and Payne reeling, especially in light of the troubling patterns Henry had previously revealed.
