Louis Tomlinson Calls Liam Payne’s Death ‘Impossibly Difficult’: ‘I’ve Never Lost a Friend Before’

Louis Tomlinson is opening up about the loss of Liam Payne.

In a vulnerable cover story interview with Rolling Stone UK, the singer shared that his former One Direction bandmate’s death in 2024 has been “impossibly difficult” to navigate, especially as the group celebrated its 15th anniversary earlier this year. “It was really uncomfortable, actually,” Tomlinson began.

“The [collective] feeling to celebrate is as important, if not more important than ever, on behalf of Liam,” he continued of the band’s anniversary, which marked the first one that Tomlinson and ex-bandmates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan had to celebrate without Payne. “There’s still a level in my head [where it feels] unjust and frustrating that he’s not with us anymore. So, it just brought up those feelings, although I’m still living with them anyway.”

The interview comes almost a full year after Payne fell to his death from a fourth-floor hotel balcony in Argentina. Toxicology reports later found that the star, who had been open about his struggles with substance abuse, had high levels of alcohol in his system at the time of the fall, as well as cocaine.

Shortly afterward, all four of Payne’s former bandmates shared statements addressing his death. “I feel beyond lucky to have had you in my life but I’m really struggling with the idea of saying goodbye,” Tomlinson wrote at the time, calling the late musician the “most vital part of One Direction.”

While speaking to RSUK, Tomlinson opened up about how his grief over Payne has been different in comparison to the losses of mom Johannah Deakin in 2016 and sister Félicité Tomlinson in 2019.

“It was really, really, impossibly difficult for me to deal with losing Liam,” he told the publication. “Naively, I thought that because at this point, I’m relatively well versed in grief for my age, that it might soften the blow. [That was] super-naive. It’s very different. I’ve never lost a friend before.”

“He was just a very misunderstood person, I think, from a public perspective,” he added of Payne. “If there is ever any judgment on his character, I think nine times out of 10, you can reflect on that, and the reflection is that he was someone who just wanted to be liked.”