Liam Payne’s Ex Maya Henry Breaks Silence After His Death: ‘It Was the Drug Use and Addictions That Tore Us Apart’

Henry opened up about the One Direction alum’s struggles in a new ‘Rolling Stone’ interview after his death at age 31 in October 2024

Liam Payne and Maya Henry in November 2019. Photo: Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for The Business of Fashion

Maya Henry is looking back on her relationship with the late Liam Payne.

In a new issue of Rolling Stone, the model and author, 25, broke her silence following Payne’s death at age 31 on Oct. 16, 2024 and spoke about witnessing his struggles with addiction during their on-and-off relationship from 2018 to 2022.

“This was someone I loved very much,” Henry wrote in a statement of Payne, who died after falling from the balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires, Argentina. “Initially, it was the drug use and addictions that tore us apart. Anyone who has been with an addict understands how difficult that is.”

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Liam Payne and Maya Henry in December 2019. Samir Hussein/WireImage

A toxicology report released in November by the prosecutor’s office said Payne had traces of “alcohol, cocaine and prescription antidepressants” in his system at the time of his death.

“While I loved him deeply, he did things that hurt me in ways I’ll never fully understand, and he continued to hurt me years after we broke up,” added Henry to the outlet. “On drugs, he became someone unrecognizable — so different from his sober self.”

She continued, “I kept hoping each incident would be a wake-up call for him to get help, but it never was. I tried to be there for him. I loved him so much that I convinced myself I could fix things.”

Liam Payne and Maya Henry in March 2022.Jamie McCarthy/Getty

Henry recalled finding herself in many “unsafe and harmful” situations and “ignoring every red flag” along the way.

“I knew there were parts of himself he was struggling with — parts of his identity he wasn’t ready to fully face, even within our relationship,” she said. “In the end, it wasn’t just the betrayals or the addictions that broke us — it was the realization that I had spent years in something that was never what I thought it was. I don’t fault him for his struggles.”

Liam Payne and Maya Henry in October 2021.Mike Marsland/WireImage

Payne and Henry were first spotted together in August 2018, confirmed their relationship in September 2019 and got engaged in 2020 before splitting for the first time in June 2021. They reconciled by October 2021 and then broke up for good the following year.

Henry, who wrote a fictional novel titled Looking Forward based on “true events” of her relationship with a pop star, spoke to PEOPLE about her relationship with Payne in May 2024.

“I definitely chose to forgive a lot of things,” she said. “When you love someone so much, you have those rose-colored glasses. You’re in denial, so you think those things will stop, and they don’t, and that just becomes an issue among other issue.”