Harry Styles has opened up about the pain of losing his former bandmate and close friend, Liam Payne. In a recent interview, the singer spoke honestly about grief, fame and how Liam’s passing has changed the way he looks at life.
Harry speaking about grief on interview
In the recent interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, the 32-year old One Direction singer and “Aperture” solo star talked about how artists are often seen as larger-than-life figures, even though they are “ordinary people.”
Zane said the topic made him think of Liam and “people who struggled to get out of extraordinary situations.” Harry admitted that even talking about Liam is still very difficult for him.
“I mean, full transparency…even the idea of talking about it feels like…I struggle with that a little bit even,” Harry said.
He shared that after Liam passed away, he found it hard to deal with the public nature of his grief.
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“I think there was a period when he passed away where I really struggled with kind of like acknowledging how strange it is to have people kind of like own part of your grief in a way. I have such strong feelings around my friend passing away. And then suddenly being, you know, like aware of there’s maybe like a desire from other people of you to convey that in some way, or it means you’re not feeling what you’re feeling or something, you know?”
Harry continued, “It’s so difficult to lose a friend.”
“It’s difficult to lose any friend, but it’s so difficult to lose a friend who is so like you in so many ways. It’s like, I saw someone with the kindest heart who just wanted to be great,” he added.
He also said that Liam’s death made him stop and think about his own life and choices.
“It was a really important moment for me in terms of taking a look at my life and being able to say to myself, ‘OK, what do I want to do with my life? How do I want to live my life?’ And I think the greatest way you can honor your friends who pass away is by living your life to the fullest. Like, super special person and…really sad.”
Liam Payne died on October 16 after falling from the third-floor balcony of his hotel room at CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Palermo, Buenos Aires. His death deeply affected fans around the world, as well as those who knew him personally.
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Harry on taking a break
In the same interview, Harry also shared that he took nearly four years away from music to reflect on his life and career.
He said that, “I was turning 30 and I wanted to take a break and assess, I think.”
“I didn’t want to just roll straight into another process of making something and I thought it was time to just, honestly, like make sure I still loved it.”
“I was obviously really lucky to be able to stop for a second and kind of do that, but it’s a good thing to have moments where you’ve done something for a long time to kind of stop and check in with yourself about, ‘do I do this because this is what I’ve been doing for a long time, or do I do this because I really love it?’”