Liam Payne’s death last year in October, at the age of 31, came as a shock to the entire world. His former band One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson has now opened up about coming to terms with his loss in a new interview with Rolling Stone UK. He also shared that the 15th anniversary of the band’s formation, which occurred earlier this year, was a tough one because it was the first time he was not with them.

What Louis said

Louis said, “It was really uncomfortable, actually, the 15th anniversary, because the [collective] feeling to celebrate is as important, if not more important than ever, on behalf of Liam. You know, there’s still a level in my head [where it feels] unjust and frustrating that he’s not with us anymore. So, it just brought up those feelings, although I’m still living with them anyway.”

‘It was really, really, impossibly difficult for me’

He added, “It was really, really, impossibly difficult for me to deal with losing Liam. Naively, I thought that because at this point, I’m relatively well versed in grief for my age, that it might soften the blow. [That was] super-naive. It’s very different. I’ve never lost a friend before. We were all just so amateur, but he was already where he needed to be by the time he did his first [X Factor] audition. None of us would have admitted it at the time, because you have a lot of pride as a young lad, but we all looked up to him like that.”

Liam Payne died after a fall from the third floor of his hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As per reports, the hotel had called the police before his death complaining about an erratic, violent guest who ‘may be under the influence of drugs and alcohol’. The preliminary autopsy has confirmed that Liam was intoxicated, suggesting that he ‘jumped’ in a state of ‘semi or total unconsciousness’.