AJ McLean Breaks Silence On Liam Payne’s Tragic Dying

AJ McLean of The Backstreet Boys is honoring Liam Payne as “a light-weight” in his life following the tragic passing of the previous One Course star, particularly reminiscing about their time collectively whereas collaborating on a brand new Netflix sequence.

The 46-year-old spoke about Liam’s dying at LAX, revealing how the 2 cast a friendship whereas engaged on “Constructing the Band,” a music competitors present that enables singers to create the following huge pop group.

AJ McLean shared that they lately wrapped filming the sequence, throughout which period he, Liam Payne, Nicole Scherzinger, and Kelly Rowland labored intently collectively for six weeks.

AJ, who has confronted his personal struggles with habit all through his profession, talked about that he did not discover any warning indicators whereas working alongside Liam. Nevertheless, he acknowledged that the 2 singers who rose to fame in boy bands, shared “a number of similarities.”

“Dependancy is an actual factor. Luckily, I got here out the opposite finish, however I’m one in all few,” he informed TMZ.

Whereas they by no means delved into their particular person sobriety journeys, AJ revealed that he and Liam usually mentioned “life,” describing the late pop star as “very humorous” and a “sweetheart.”

Whereas studies declare that Liam informed mates, household, and followers that he was sober earlier this 12 months, the pop star was discovered with medication in his resort room. A partial post-mortem report later revealed that there have been a number of medication present in his system on the time of dying, together with cocaine, benzodiazepines, crack, and one thing referred to as pink cocaine.

Regardless of its deceptive identify, pink cocaine isn’t cocaine in any respect. Featured in a 2022 VICE documentary, this neon-colored substance is often a mixture of MDMA, ketamine, and caffeine. It may possibly additionally include different substances equivalent to benzodiazepines, meth, and cathinones.

After studying of his passing, Liam’s former One Course bandmate Zayn Malik shared a touching tribute.

“Liam, I’ve discovered myself speaking out loud to you, hoping you’ll be able to hear me, I can’t assist however assume selfishly that there are such a lot of extra conversations for us to have in our lives,” Zayn started by way of Instagram on Thursday, October 17. “I by no means received to thanks for supporting me by way of a number of the most troublesome instances in my life.”

He continued, “After I was lacking residence as a 17-year-old child, you’ll all the time be there with a constructive outlook and reassuring smile and let me know that you simply had been my good friend and that I cherished. Although you had been youthful than me you had been all the time extra wise than me, you had been headstrong, opinionated, and gave no f-ck about telling individuals after they had been fallacious.”

The 2 had a falling out, and whereas it’s unclear in the event that they reconciled earlier than Liam’s passing, Zayn mentioned, “Although we butted heads due to this a number of instances, I all the time secretly revered you for it.”

Harry Kinds, who achieved outstanding success in his solo profession following the band’s break up, fondly remembered Liam as somebody who “lived broad open, along with his coronary heart on his sleeve.” He described him as “heat, supportive, and extremely loving.”

“His biggest pleasure was making different individuals comfortable, and it was an honor to be alongside him as he did it,” Harry mentioned of his former bandmate. “Liam lived broad open, along with his coronary heart on his sleeve, he had an power for all times that was infectious. He was heat, supportive, and extremely loving.”

He added, “The years we spent collectively will eternally stay among the many most cherished years of my life. I’ll miss him all the time, my pretty good friend.”

The previous One Course star tragically handed away earlier this week in Argentina after reportedly falling from a third-floor balcony.

As investigations into his dying unfold, studies recommend that Liam was underneath the affect of medication, exhibiting erratic conduct on the resort and inflicting injury earlier than being escorted again to his room. In a 911 name, a resort receptionist named Esteban described Liam as “off his head in medication” and urgently requested that an ambulance be dispatched.

It was later revealed that resort employees made two calls to emergency providers, stressing the necessity for “pressing” help for the singer.