Pop star Harry Styles opens up about his continued grief surrounding former One Direction bandmate and friend, Liam Payne.
He talked about his grief, how that is seen on a public stage, and how he lives his life after Payne’s death during an Apple Music interview.
Still Processing Grief
While promoting his newest album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, Styles shared with host Zane Lowe that losing Payne has been very difficult.
“I think there was a period when he passed away where I really struggled. I have such strong feelings around my friend passing away.”
He added during the Wednesday interview that, “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.”
Payne was only 31 years old when he passed, falling from a third-floor balcony on October 16th, 2024.
Mourning in the Public Eye
For Styles and many other celebrities, they not only have to deal with their grief, but also the difficulty of mourning in the public eye.
“I struggle with that a little bit even … with kind of like acknowledging how strange it is to have people kind of like own part of your grief in a way.”
Styles added, “I have such strong feelings … 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?”
Providing full transparency about his feelings is hard for Styles, and even talking about being transparent affects him.
Changing Lifestyle
After Payne’s death, it prompted Harry Styles to reassess his own life.
“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,” he shared.
“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.”
He added that he remembers Payne as a “super special person.”
This interview was to promote Styles’s fourth studio album. It is releasing on March 6th, with the lead single, “Aperture,” that debuted in January.