Liam Payne’s loving father Geoff reportedly tried to have his troubled son committed to a psychiatric treatment centre months before his death aged 31 as he did all he could to safeguard him.
The father of the late One Direction singer tried to help him after he was hospitalised in a ‘serious condition’ in April 2024, reports Rolling Stone.
Liam apparently began the year in a ‘fragile state’ and was admitted to rehab in Spain the same month when he released his final single, Teardrops, but is said to have left before he was able to complete the program.
When he fell off the wagon in the weeks that followed, Geoff allegedly tried to intervene as his son battled substance addition but Liam is said to have refused his father’s wishes to attend the treatment centre.
During this period it was claimed that Liam’s team ‘balked’ at the idea of Liam going on tour in South America because he was ‘in no shape to be on the road’.
The publication claimed that Liam missed several key promo opportunities for his single including interviews, performances and events.
Liam Payne’s loving father Geoff reportedly tried to have his troubled son committed to a psychiatric treatment centre months before his death aged 31 – as he did all he could to safeguard him (Geoff pictured with Liam and wife Karen)
The father of the late One Direction singer tried to help him after he was hospitalised in a ‘serious condition’ in April 2024, reports Rolling Stone (pictured October 2024)
Just a month before his death, Liam’s U.S. label, Universal Republic, dropped him over these factors and concerns including for the star’s health.
A source told Rolling Stone: ‘It was decided by the label, given these factors combined with concerns for his health, to terminate the working relationship rather than further release music,’ says the source.
The split from Universal Republic was legally formalised by September.
However, the U.S. website reports that around that time, those around Liam felt that he was in a good place as he spent time living at a polo club in Wellington, Florida.
A friend recalled how Liam would spend his days drawing and songwriting as well as horseback riding and playing polo.
‘Liam was playing polo and looked good,’ Geoff recalled in a witness statement provided to Argentine prosecutors.
It was reported last month that Geoff is being sued for $10million for defamation by his late son’s friend who claims he has been made a scapegoat for the star’s death.
Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores, an American businessman, was among the last people to see the singer alive in Buenos Aires on October 16 last year before he fatally plunged from a third-floor hotel balcony.
Liam pictured with his parents and sisters Nicola and Ruth
Nores was sensationally charged with manslaughter last month for having ‘abandoned him [Liam] to his luck knowing that he was incapable of fending for himself and knowing that he [Liam] suffered from multiple addictions’.
Judge Laura Bruniard said Nores ‘failed to fulfil his duties of care, assistance and help’ towards the singer, who died while staying at the CasaSur Palmero hotel.
Four others – hotel manager Gilda Martin, hotel worker Ezequiel Pereyra, hotel receptionist Esteban Grassi and waiter Braian Paiz – have also been charged in relation with the singer’s death.
But now Nores has accused the star’s father, Geoff, of causing him ‘irreparable damage’ valued at more than $10million, in a lawsuit lodged in Palm Beach, Florida.
All ‘net financial proceeds’ from the legal action will be donated to Liam’s son Bear, Roger maintains.
He claims that Geoff, a mechanic from Wolverhampton, made ‘misleading false and defamatory’ claims, in sworn statements to police detectives in Buenos Aires investigating Liam’s death which have incriminated him.
Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores (left) with Liam Payne and the star’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy (right)
Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores (pictured) was among the last people to see Liam Payne alive in Buenos Aires on October 16 last year before he plunged from a third-floor hotel balcony to his death
Liam Payne’s last post on Snapchat before he fell to his death from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires
Geoff, Liam’s father, is being sued for $10million for defamation by his late son’s close friend who claims he has been made a scapegoat for his tragic death
He claims the ‘false’ statements are:
Geoff told police that Nores and Kate Cassidy were his nurses and were responsible for his care.
But Nores says that while Liam was a dear friend, he never agreed to be and was never the caretaker of Liam and he did not have a legal duty to Liam.
Geoff also allegedly told police that Rogelio [Roger] Nores took Liam to see a new and unnamed psychiatrist in Florida after his doctor, Dr Rhaidy, resigned, and that Nores lied to the new doctor about Liam’s problems with alcohol and drugs in order for him to prescribe psychiatric medication and avoid continuing Dr Rohaidy’s care recommendations.
But Nores claims that he and Liam never visited ‘another psychiatrist’ together, that there was no ‘another psychiatrist’, and that Geoff’s statement is 100 per cent fiction. He could therefore never have hidden any information from the non-existent medical person.
Another claim is that Geoff told police his son could not be left on his own, did not have his own phone and could only be contacted through his girlfriend Kate or Nores.
But Nores says Liam was frequently on his own while he lived in Florida and always had his own phone, apart from a few days after it was broken during an argument with Kate.
Liam and Nores are pictured in West Hollywood in June this year
A drone view shows the balcony on the CasaSur Hotel from where Payne fell to his death
Karen Payne and Geoff Payne, parents of Liam, at the star’s funeral
Liam and Kate Cassidy attending the Fashion Awards 2022
Lawyers acting for Nores have demanded that Geoff ‘retract’ and ‘correct’ his statements to the Argentine authorities.
Nores claims Geoff’s ‘false’ statements directly lead to his arrest and the charges of manslaughter against him.
The writ states: ‘Defendant Geoff’s false Relevant Contents of the Two Sworn Declarations were and are the proximate cause of the Plaintiff’s injury and damages including damage to Plaintiff’s reputation.
‘Defendant Geoff knew or should have known and could reasonably foresee that the false Relevant Contents of the Two Sworn Declarations would be and were the proximate cause of Plaintiff’s injury and damages in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, and globally in all respects.’
