“Directioners” (One Direction fans) and other music lovers woke up to the news that former boy band star and solo musician, Liam Payne, has died at 31.
Police said Payne died in Argentina following a fall from the third floor of a Buenos Aires hotel.
Anger quickly overrode the shock as fans turned their attention to influencer Maya Henry, 23, Payne’s former girlfriend. They blamed her for his death because of abuse and harassment accusations she had levelled against him.
“Now you have all the attention,” someone posted on her Instagram comments.
In a lawsuit, Henry had accused Payne of a variety of abusive behaviours.
“Ever since we broke up, he messages me, blows up my phone, always from different phone numbers. He’ll create new iCloud accounts to message me. He’s the one that is constantly doing weird sh*t. He says that he preys on One Direction fans because they will always be loyal to him and they won’t tell on him,” she said in a TikTok video.
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On X, however, it has been a mix of tributes to the musician and posts throwing the blame on Henry.
However, some came to Henry’s defence: “Just yesterday Maya Henry shared that Liam Payne would manipulate her with threats of suicide - and implied she would be to blame if anything happened to him after the release of her book. My heart is with Maya right now, this is not fair.”
Another accused Payne of being under an illicit substance when he died.
“Today is not the first time Liam Payne tried to throw himself off a balcony while high on cocaine. He probably pulled the same manipulation tactic with his current girlfriend as he did with Maya Henry,” they posted.
Another individual stated that she is sending ‘Henry and all of his victims’ support because they will now face horrible misogyny for something they had nothing to do with.
IOL