Simon Cowell has described the moment he found out about Liam Payne’s “horrible” death in October 2024, saying he learned the news while performing with his new boy band in six-part documentary series Simon Cowell: The Next Act.
“Someone who works very closely with me came into my room,” Cowell, 66, said on Saturday’s episode of the New York Times podcast “The Interview.”
“I was in the north of England and I could tell by the look on her face that she was upset. She said, ‘Sit down,’ and she told me.”
Mr Cowell, who discovered Mr Payne and created the hugely popular boy band One Direction on talent competition series The X Factor, said he was shocked.
“I was like, wow,” he said. “It was a little similar to how I felt when I heard the news when my father passed away. It’s very difficult to express my feelings in words. I’m just shocked.”
“At that point, you’re not thinking very clearly. I just remember saying, ‘I really want to talk to his mom and dad. Could you please get on the phone as soon as possible?'”
The episode premiered shortly after Cowell addressed online criticism from those who believed he had put undue pressure on Payne and his bandmates and was involved in Payne’s death.
“I don’t read any of these books because if I read them, I would just torture myself. The idea that 10 years after you sign someone, you’re essentially responsible for their life? You can’t do that,” Cowell said on the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast earlier this week.
The former One Direction member died on October 16, 2024, at the age of 31, after falling from the balcony of his hotel room on the third floor of the Casasul Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, sustaining “extremely serious injuries.”
The music mogul was one of the first to issue a public statement praising the young musician following his death.
“You don’t really know how you feel about someone until a moment like this happens,” Cowell wrote on social media at the time.
“Liam, I’m devastated,” Cowell continued. “My heart is breaking. And I feel empty. And I want you to know how much love and respect I have for you. Every tear I shed is a memory of you.”
The “American Idol” alum was later seen hugging his parents at Payne’s funeral in the United Kingdom in November 2024.
Payne’s cause of death was later determined to be multiple injuries that caused internal and external bleeding.
Authorities found alcohol and drugs in his room after his death.
Ultimately, five people were charged in the singer’s death, including the hotel manager, the receptionist, and the singer’s friend Rogelio “Roger” Nores. All three were each charged with manslaughter.
Meanwhile, two other hotel employees were charged with supplying drugs to the singer, who had been in rehab multiple times to battle addiction.
