Overview

• Tomlinson says One Direction's 15th anniversary in July felt uncomfortable and was marked with Payne firmly in mind.
• He praises Payne as the group's most experienced "safest pair of hands" and pushes back on past public criticism.
• Tomlinson recounts learning of Payne's death from Niall Horan while in Los Angeles, a moment he discussed on The Diary Of A CEO podcast.
• Payne died on Oct. 16, 2024 after a fall from a Buenos Aires hotel balcony, with a post-mortem citing multiple traumas and internal and external hemorrhaging.
• News reports later cited toxicology findings of high alcohol and the presence of cocaine, and an Argentine court in February dropped criminal negligence charges against three of five people initially charged.