INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

One Direction Star Liam Payne Is Moving On, Not Moving Out

By Alan Ewart
Published on: 01:23 PST, Nov 9, 2015

One Direction star Liam Payne has faced way more than his fair share of challenges over recent months. As every One Direction fan knows, Liam and bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and Niall Horan just finished a massive 80-date world tour. Liam and the boys drop their latest album on November 13, and once they are done with the promotional round, the boys are set to head in separate directions, at least for a while.

Things have not been easy for Liam and One Direction over the course of this year. After all, they started their tour with five members and finished it with four. Payne and his buddies have shown signs of being tired of the fame game. Liam took to Twitter back in August to complain about being harassed in the street by fans and paparazzi photographers and pleaded for some privacy to be allowed to enjoy New York.

A couple of weeks later Payne was accused of being homophobic because some fans thought that the way Liam introduced one of his favorite songs failed to recognise same sex relationships. Payne shot that claim down in flames by giving an in-depth interview and appearing on the cover of iconic U.K. gay magazine Attitude. That wasn’t enough to please all of Payne’s fans though as some attacked Liam for daring to speak about Louis Tomlinson’s forthcoming fatherhood. Payne was also slammed by some fans after he seemed to criticize those One Direction Fans who insist that Harry Styles and Louis are in a gay relationship.

The stress of touring led to Payne splitting with his longtime girlfriend, Sophia Smith, and it seems that the stress of everything led to Liam falling ill. As reported in Inquisitr last month, Payne had a meltdown immediately before a show in Belfast, and the show was cancelled as Liam was unable to perform.

One Direction fans are known for their loyalty to Liam and his pals, and many were desperately worried that their split would end up being a permanent one. Payne and his bandmates have used social media to reassure fans that they will be back. Now, Liam has spoken out about One Direction’s break and his personal break-up with Sophia. Some of Liam’s fans feared that their latest song, “History,” was evidence that the boys were splitting for good.

The Mirror reports that Liam claims that this is not the case. Instead, Payne claims that the song simply closes the current chapter of One Direction and fans should look forward to the next chapter.

“Out of ‘History’ comes a little bit of closure for this chapter of One Direction.

“More than anything, the song is about the way the fans and everyone have created this massive thing — One Direction — over the past five years.”

The Daily Mail reports that Liam has also spoken about how difficult it was to split with Sophia. Payne says that the split was “the hardest decision he ever had to make.”

“Being on the tour all this year and being away from her was so hard. We spent so much time apart. But in order to do right by somebody sometimes it’s better not to do what your heart wants, but to do what’s better for them.”

Liam also says that he is looking forward to some “alone time” so that he can work out how he wants the future to look.

If Payne’s Twitter feed is anything to go by, he is already feeling the pain of separation from his bandmates and from Sophia. It seems that Liam is killing time with coloring books.

It seems that Liam Payne is moving on from this chapter of his life and looking forward to the next. If Payne has his way, that chapter will include One Direction.

[Photo by Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images]

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