Liam Payne struggled with issues related to his ex-girlfriend Maya Henry in the time before he suddenly passed away on October 16 at the age of 31.

A source familiar with the matter told People that Payne is “extremely overwhelmed by all the legal issues” surrounding Henry.

According to the Daily Mail , Maya Henry, 23, ended her relationship with the former One Direction singer last week after she accused him of contacting her too many times. The couple were once engaged before calling it quits in 2022. Henry, who was born in Texas, is the author of the novel Looking Forward .

Model Maya Henry and Liam Payne split in 2022

In a TikTok video shared by Henry on October 6, she accused her ex – whom she did not name but was associated with “One Direction fans” – of repeatedly “blowing up” her phone.

“The calls were always from different numbers. I never knew where they were coming from… Also Liam emailed me. Not only me, but he blew up my mom’s phone. Is that normal behavior for you?”, Henry claimed.

She also accused Liam Payne of “using the One Direction fandom” against her. “Liam said he ‘hunted the One Direction fans’ because they would always be loyal to him and they wouldn’t snitch on him,” Henry added.

Liam Payne died after falling from the third floor of the CasaSur Palermo hotel in Buenos Aires on October 16, Argentine police confirmed to People and are investigating the cause of death after conducting an autopsy.

The singer has a 7-year-old son, Bear Grey, and his ex-girlfriend, Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole.

Liam Payne had long been vocal about his struggles with mental health and addiction before his death at the age of 31.

The former One Direction member previously explained that he used alcohol to cope with One Direction’s huge success, telling Men’s Health (Australia) that “it’s hard when you have the level of fame that we had in the band”.

“There are so many people struggling with mental health who aren’t really getting the help they need, and I think that’s a problem in our industry,” he told Men’s Health in 2019.

In a 2021 episode of the Diary of a CEO podcast , Payne said he had suicidal thoughts while in One Direction. The band, which included Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson, rose to fame after appearing on The X-Factor in 2010. Malik left the group in 2015, and One Direction later announced an indefinite hiatus.

Liam Payne gave an interview in June 2022 with Logan Paul, in which he criticized his One Direction bandmates and revealed that he had completed 100 days of rehab.

“My own frustration with my career and where I’ve landed, I’ve been critical of everyone else, which is wrong. I want to apologize because that’s definitely not me,” Payne said in the eight-minute video posted to YouTube.

In May 2024, Liam Payne’s ex-fiancée Maya Henry gave an interview to People about her novel Looking Forward , which she wrote while she was dating the singer.