Liam Payne ‘Never Had the Chance to Fully Emotionally Mature,’ Said Sober Coach

After One Direction broke up, Liam Payne’s team reached out to a sober coach on his behalf. The band’s break up and the stress of his faltering solo career were weighing on him, and they wanted someone to intervene. Chip Somers helped Payne get sober in 2017. He spoke about how he thought Payne’s childhood and early fame impacted him.

Liam Payne’s sober coach said the singer didn’t have a chance to mature

Payne became a member of One Direction when he was a teenager. It was an all-consuming job, leaving him no space for himself.

“I had no personal life [in One Direction],” he said, per Rolling Stone. “I remember getting to therapy one time. When the guy was like, ‘What do you like to do?’ I didn’t know. I just sat there in the chair going, like, ‘What do I actually like to do?’ ”

Afterward, he went from massive levels of fame and success to a struggling solo career. As a result, he began to lean more heavily on drugs and alcohol, much to the concern of his management team.

“We need you to go and see this guy,” they said in a call to Somers. “He’s pretty f***ed up.”

In 2017, Somers helped Payne become sober. He viewed the singer as a “delightful, sweet, lovely boy who, like many people with substance problems, just wanted to be loved.” He also believed that he was someone “who had never had the chance to fully emotionally mature.” It was incredibly difficult to grow and work on oneself with a schedule that demanding.

“If you’re an artist like Liam, coming out of One Direction, you haven’t got time to stop and take three years to do the kind of therapeutic work that you might hope for,” Somers said. “You’ve got to move it on.”

A source close to his former girlfriend shared a similar sentiment

A source close to Payne’s former girlfriend, Maya Henry, believed Payne’s childhood and early fame made it difficult for him to adapt to adult life. He was sick for much of his childhood and became famous as a teenager.

“Liam was damaged prior to becoming famous and had childhood trauma, then was thrown into a brutal cutthroat industry that is notorious for destroying people,” the source said. “Achieving fame and wealth at such a young age contributed to his existing problems. As a young boy, he was faced with a sudden shift in responsibility, feeling the weight of financially supporting those around him.”

Liam Payne spoke about his decision to get sober in 2023

In 2023, Payne told fans he’d been sober for six months. He disappeared from the public eye following an interview in which he spoke poorly about One Direction. In this time, he went to rehab.

“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,” he said in a YouTube video (via People). “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.”

He said he felt proud and content with himself.

How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.