Liam Payne Admits Certain Parts of One Direction Were 'Toxic'

Liam Payne said something about One Direction that you may not have expected: he called being in the band “toxic.”

“When you’re doing hundreds and hundreds of [concerts] and it’s the same 22 songs at the same time every single day, even if you’re not happy, you’ve got to go out there,” the 25-year-old singer explained to Men’s Health Australia.

“It’s almost like putting the Disney costume on before you step up on stage and underneath the Disney costume I was pissed quite a lot of the time because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on,” Liam added. “I mean, it was fun. We had an absolute blast, but there were certain parts of it where it just got a little bit toxic.”

Liam continued, “It’s difficult when you have the level of fame that we had in the band. There have been a lot of people in trouble with mental health that aren’t really getting the help that they need, and I think that’s a bit of a problem in our industry. It’s the same s–t that happens to everyone, that’s been happening since the ‘70s. You know what the traps are and if you are lucky enough, like me, to be able to get out of that scenario and back into a sense of normality, then you know it’s a bit different.”

The band went on an indefinite hiatus back in 2016. The members include Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson. Zayn Malik left the band in 2015.