Liam Payne Went to Sobriety Treatment Center for 100 Days After One Direction Backlash

Liam Payne is reflecting on one of his bigger career controversies, in which he sent One Direction fans into a spiral after he controversially claimed on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast that he was the inspiration behind Simon Cowell’s decision to create One Direction.

A year later, the “Strip That Down” singer uploaded an eight-minute YouTube video on Saturday (July 8), in which he revealed that the backlash was one of the incidents that ultimately encouraged him to enter a sobriety treatment program for 100 days. “My own frustrations with my own career and where I kind of landed, I took shots at everybody else which is wrong. Obviously, I want to apologize for that, in the first instance, because that’s definitely not me,” he shared in the clip. “One of the biggest remarks I made was about the One Direction thing … and a lot of self-protection, I suppose, in that moment, more than anything. The rest of the boys really stuck by me when I needed them most, they kinda came to the rescue. Even Zayn, as well, which is why I did send him a little thank you online. It came across really big-headed didn’t it?”

Back in June 2022, Payne appeared on Impaulsive, in which he shared a number of thoughts on the members of One Direction he didn’t get along with, the alleged origin of the boy band and why he can’t stand beside former 1D bandmate Zayn Malik.

“I just kind of feel like I’ve got more of a grip on life and everything that was getting away from me, I just feel like I’ve got more of a handle on it,” Payne reflected back on the moment now. “I just needed to take a little bit of time out for myself actually because I kind of became somebody who I didn’t really recognize anymore. And I’m sure you guys didn’t either. I was in bad shape up until that point and I was really happy to kind of put a stopper to life and work.”

Payne added that his decision to seek treatment also stemmed from wanting to be better for his six-year-old son, adding, “There’s no point trying to be a dad when you’ve got nothing to teach. And I don’t think up until this point I really had much to say to him other than what came from deeply loving and very deeply. Which are obviously the most important things, but I just kind of feel like I’ve got more of a grip on life now.”

Moving forward, the 29-year-old singer said he’s focusing on his sobriety as he continues to make social media content for the rest of the year. He’s also set to head out on a headlining tour later in the year.

Watch Payne’s full video below.

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