Reality star Chris Hughes has revealed how the late Liam Payne reached out to him after watching him go through his own struggles with fame
Celebrity Big Brother star Chris Hughes broke down in tears as he spoke about the death of Liam Payne – who he revealed reached out to him to check on his mental health following a ‘scrap with the paparazzi.’
The 32-year-old, who shot to fame on Love Island back in 2017 before heading into the Big Brother house earlier this year where he met now girlfriend JoJo Siwa, 22 – said Liam’s death at the age of just 31 in October 2024 had ‘hit him hard’.
Speaking about the impact One Direction star Liam, who tragically fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina – had on him, he told the Question The Default podcast with Harry Corin: “God, I’m going to get emotional about this.”
He shared: “When Liam Payne died, that hit me hard because he was one of the first people who reached out to me in that moment [the paparazzi incident].” As he welled up, host Harry asked if he wanted a minute.
“No, I’m alright,” Chris replied, composing himself as he continued: “You know, seeing everything that happened to him was just, was obviously extremely upsetting for millions and millions of people. But knowing he cared about my mental health at the time.
“That was tough when I saw the news about him because he reached out, he sent me a message and basically said, ‘Stay strong, don’t worry about what people are saying’.
“He actually sent me a message the morning after that incident, and was just like, know, you’ll be anxious. It happens. It’s normal. Which basically normalised it to make me feel better, which I thought says a lot about the person’s character. Big time.”
Recalling the moment he heard of Liam’s tragic death, an emotional Chris said: “The first thing I thought of was how he was to me when I was going through a struggle.
“My anxiety from that incident lasted so long. But the fact that he knew what that was like. He didn’t need to send me a message. I met him once before at the Global Music Awards, which was a few years before that. So he didn’t need to reach out to me, which shows a lot about the type of character he was.”
Asked how he dealt with the pressures of fame now, Chris said he had learned to ignore certain things and these days knows how to react – or better still, not react – to avoid similar situations happening in the future. And he prefers to stay offline as much as possible.
He said: “Now I know that when I feel like that, and feel anxious, that it is normal – and you’re going to have those days. And I have my ways of dealing with those now.
“I’ve taken a lot of strength from the fact that I’ve overcome it before, so I’ll do that again. The second thing is I do things that make me happy. I have a snooker game I play on my phone that relaxes me, going out walking, playing golf. If I do the things that make me happy, I’m going to feel better.”
