EXCLUSIVE: Liam Payne's Secret Life as 'Drug Counselor' Revealed — How Singer Quietly Reached Out to Music Addicts While Hiding His Tragic Junkie Existence
Liam Payne never boasted about his acts of kindness.
March 27 2025, Published 10:00 a.m. ET
Drug-addled Liam Payne reached out to a fellow struggling star after he shot to fame on a TV talent show.
The tragic singer, who died aged 31 in October, contacted troubled singer James Arthur after he won the same British show that catapulted Payne and his One Direction bandmates to global superstardom – and RadarOnline.com can reveal he was only one of many tortured souls he "counseled" using his experiences in showbiz... and his hidden addictions.
Payne also gave fortunes to children's charities before his death.
Payne, who had a cocktail of drugs and booze in his system when he fell from a hotel balcony in Argentina, gave no hint of his own struggles with substances and fame when he reached out to fellow Brit Arthur, 37, who has battled drug addiction and depression.
And a source told us: "Liam was basically an unofficial counselor for a lot of tormented people and addicts like James.
"He was just one person he helped by speaking to them on the phone, meeting them and offering them support.
"But he would never tell them the sad truth about how bad his own struggles were."
Say You Won't Let Go singer Arthur won the talent show in 2012, just two years after Payne and his pals, and once admitted he was "almost always high" on drugs during his time on the program.
He confessed: "Liam was a very caring guy. He requested to speak to me not long after The X-Factor when it was well documented I was struggling with the sudden rise to fame from obscurity.
"Liam had gone through a similar struggle so he set up a meeting to speak to me before The X-Factor Tour.
"He was concerned with my wellbeing and welfare, that's the type of guy he was. I was obviously affected by his passing because it was clear he was struggling and perhaps in a dark place."
Payne hid the severity of his addictions from those he helped.
Despite The X Factor coming under fire in recent years for its duty of care and the intensity of a sudden rise to fame, Arthur defended his own experience on the program.
He explained: "The process worked for me in many ways because I went into it knowing exactly who I was and what I wanted to achieve."
We told recently how Payne's girlfriend Kate Cassidy was battling horrendous grief over the drug-addled singer's death – as fuming fans continue to criticize her for leaving the struggling addict's side before his fatal plunge.
"It still doesn't feel fully real for me that he's not here," she said of the former One Direction member.
But we reported her grief wasn't getting her any sympathy from demented Payne fans online – who insiders say have been relentlessly trolling her with everything from abuse about her appearance to death threats over how she left him in Argentina two days before he was found dead.
Payne plunged to his death with a cocktail of drugs in his system.
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TikTok influencer Cassidy, 25, was vacationing with Payne in Buenos Aires but flew back to their Florida home days before he plummeted to the pavement from the third floor of the Casa Sur Palermo Hotel.
According to an autopsy, booze, prescription meds, coke, crack and pink cocaine – a street drug often containing methamphetamine, ketamine, ecstasy and other substances – were found in the British pop hunk's system.
Some say the blonde beauty's departure caused troubled Payne to spiral.
A pal told us: "He wanted her to stay. She says he begged her to stay."
Cassidy later said she had a "responsibility" to return to the U.S. and care for the couple's dog.
