Sharon Osbourne has had an inside corner on the highs and lows of the music industry for more than 45 years as her husband Ozzy's manager. On Thursday (October 17), he took aim at the music biz for what he said was its failure to support former One Direction singer and solo star Liam Payne, who died aged 31 on Wednesday after a fatal fall from a balcony of Buenos. Aires, Argentina hotel room.
“Liam, my heart hurts. We all let you down,” wrote Osbourne, a three-season veteran of the Brits X-Factorwhere Payne rose to stardom after teaming up with Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson in 2010. “Where was this industry when you needed them?” he asked in an Instagram post that included an official photo of the late singer who first auditioned for the singing reality show in 2008 as a solo act, before auditioning again two years later at the age of 16. “You were just a kid when you entered one of the toughest industries in the world. Who was in your corner? Rest in peace my friend,” said the departing Osborne X-Factor several years before Payne auditioned.
Payne has often spoken about the overwhelming pressures he faced when 1D became global superstars in 2012, which included suicidal thoughts and substance use, telling the BBC in 2017 that he often used alcohol to “mask” his emotions. i was very confused with fame when everything happened… and learning to be a person outside of your job was hard,” he said at the time.
Fellow bander-turned-solo star Robbie Williams also expressed “shock, sadness and confusion” at Payne's death, while urging fans to think deeply about how they treat celebrities online and urging kindness and compassion. “I met the boys on The X Factor and he “guided” them. I use the word coaching in inverted brackets because I did next to nothing to be honest. I just hung out with them,” wrote Williams, who recounted his tumultuous years in the spotlight as a member of British boy band Take That and his personal battles with depression and substance abuse in the years following his solo career in a self-titled . 2023 Netflix Documentary Series.
“They were all cheeky and wonderful,” Williams wrote. “I enjoyed the light pizza and thought about all the times I was that cheeky pisstaker with the Popstars before me when I was in Take That.”
Williams said he's crossed paths with the 1D stars over the years, and while he said he “loves” it all, adding that Payne's “trials and trials were very similar to mine, so it made sense to reach out to offer i could. So I did.” It also included a text message exchange with Payne from 2022, in which Williams told the singer he was “so proud” of him, to which Payne replied, “That's the man, that means the world.” .
Williams' note included an all-caps section in which the singer reminded fans that “we don't know what's going on in people's lives. What pain are they going through and what makes them behave the way they do. Before we get to the crux, you need to relax… Even if you don't really believe that celebrities or their families exist, they do.
Williams lamented that “the media will unfortunately continue to be in and rumor will continue to be rumor.” He ended with a plea for compassion and love, writing: “But as individuals we have the power to change ourselves. We can be kinder. We can be more empathetic. We can at least try to be more compassionate with ourselves, our family, our friends, strangers in life and strangers on the internet. Even famous strangers need your compassion. What a beautiful talented boy. What a tragic painful loss for his friends, family, fans and by the looks of the energy this moment created – The world.”
A preliminary autopsy said Payne died of multiple injuries and internal and external bleeding caused by a fall from the third floor of the Casa Sur Hotel in the Palermo region of Argentina. Police are still investigating the incident, but initial reports say they found substances in the star's unkempt room that appeared to be drugs and alcohol.
Osbourne and Williams' tributes came after all four of Payne's former 1D bandmates – Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan – issued a joint statement mourning the loss of their brother, saying “the memories that we shared with him will be treasured forever.” All four living members also offered their own personal statements, as did Payne's family and his former school.
Check out Osbourne and Williams' tributes below.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/sharon-osbourne-honors-liam-payne-music-industry-let-you-down-robbie-williams-tribute-1235805102/