Liam Payne issues grovelling apology to One Direction as he admits being 'wrong'
Former One Direction singer Liam Payne has publicly apologised to his former bandmates, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik after previously throwing them under the bus and criticising them in several scathing attacks.
Liam, 29, has admitted that his criticism of the talented four men came from a place of insecurity as he 'scrambled to stay relevant' by appearing in interviews including Logan Paul's controversial podcast where he claimed that he was the most talented member of One Direction, and he got into a physical fight with another bandmate during the height of the boyband's fame.
The Strip That Down hitmaker took his fans by surprise when he posted a heartfelt video to his YouTube channel, where he finally addressed several controversial comments he made about his One Direction bandmates during an appearance on Logan Paul's Impaulsive podcast last year.
Admitting that he was in a bad place at the time the podcast was recorded, Liam retracted several of the statements he made about Louis, Harry, Niall, and Zayn in the YouTube video.
"A lot of what I said came from the wrong place. I was so angry at what was going on around me, and instead of taking a look inwards, I decided to look outwards at everybody else. And I just think, yeah, I took it out on everybody else, which is just wrong, really," Liam said in the video.
One Direction now - comeback plans, car crash interview and lots of daytime TV"My own frustrations with my own career and where I kind of landed, I took shots at everybody else, which is wrong, so obviously I want to apologise for that in the first instance, because that's definitely not me," he added.
Addressing his controversial comments about his bandmates, Liam insisted that they came from a place of 'self protection' as he found himself constantly comparing himself to his former bandmates.
"The rest of the boys really stuck by me, and when I needed them the most, they kind of came to the rescue. Even Zayn as well, which is why I did send him a little thank you online, actually," the singer shared.
Following the backlash from the comments made during the controversial podcast, Liam went through a 'life-changing moment' of realisation which resulted in him spending 100 days in a treatment facility in Louisiana.
After his stay at the retreatment, Liam admitted that he is now almost over six months sober - and he doesn't miss the booze at all.
"I didn't have my phone for nearly 100 days," Liam shared. "I didn't connect with the outside world at all. I have had a lot of time to recollect over those moments. I kind of had to go away to kind of get better.
"The whole thing up to that point was just a scramble to stay relevant," he added.