“I saw someone with the kindest heart who just wanted to be great,” the singer said of his former One Direction bandmate.

Harry Styles admits he ‘really struggled’ with publicly mourning Liam Payne: ‘It’s so difficult to lose a friend’

"I saw someone with the kindest heart who just wanted to be great," the singer said of his former One Direction bandmate.

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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on March 4, 2026 3:30 p.m. ET

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Liam Payne and Harry Styles. Credit:

Chelsea Lauren/Getty

Harry Styles is opening up about the profound struggle of mourning his former bandmate while in the public eye.

In a wide-ranging conversation with Zane Lowe published on Wednesday, Styles got candid about the painful loss of Liam Payne, his former One Direction bandmate who died on Oct. 2, 2024 after falling from the third floor balcony of a Buenos Aires hotel. The grief itself was difficult, Styles admitted, but made all the more complicated by fans and media clamoring for his response to the death of his friend.

"There was a period when he passed away where I really struggled with acknowledging how strange it is to have people kind of own part of your grief in a way," Styles explained. "I have such strong feelings around my friend passing away. And then suddenly being, you know, there’s a desire from other people of you to convey that in some way, or it means you’re not feeling what you’re feeling or something, you know?”

Harry Styles and Liam Payne.

Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty; Jeff Spicer/Getty

Along with Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik, Payne and Styles were part of one of the biggest bands in the world after the five appeared on Britain's *The X Factor* as solo artists. They were later combined into a group by judges Nicole Scherzinger and Simon Cowell. Together, the five of them became overnight superstars, toured the world, and released five studio albums during their whirlwind five years together as a band.

"It’s so difficult to lose a friend. It’s difficult to lose any friend, but it’s so difficult to lose a friend who is so like you in so many ways," Styles said. "It’s like, I saw someone with the kindest heart who just wanted to be great."

In the aftermath of Payne's death, Styles said he reflected a lot about his own life and how he wanted to live going forward. "It was a really important moment for me in terms of taking a look at my life and being able to say to myself, ‘OK, what do I want to do with my life? How do I want to live my life?,'" Styles said. "And I think the greatest way you can honor your friends who pass away is by living your life to the fullest. Like super special person and really sad."

Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, and Niall Horan of One Direction perform onstage at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sept. 20, 2014 in Las Vegas.

Ethan Miller/Getty

In the immediate aftermath of Payne's death, Styles voiced his devastation over the loss in a statement shared on social media.

"His greatest joy was making other people happy, and it was an honor to be alongside him as he did it," Styles wrote. "Liam lived wide open, with his heart on his sleeve, he had an energy for life that was infectious. He was warm, supportive, and incredibly loving. The years we spent together will forever remain among the most cherished years of my life. I will miss him always, my lovely friend."

That November, Styles, Horan, Tomlinson, and Malik reunited to attend Payne's funeral.

Watch Styles discuss the loss in the interview above.

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Music”