Robbie Williams: “The tragedy of Liam won’t go unnoticed and I’m sure that things will be done in his name to make things better”

Robbie Williams has spoken out about the tragic death of Liam Payne, and said that there needs to be a push for something to be “done in his name to make things better”.

The soloist and former One Direction member died on October 16 at the age of 31, after falling from a hotel’s third-floor balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Argentinian prosecutor’s office later shared that his cause of death was due to multiple traumas and internal and external bleeding.

Soon after the news broke, countless fans and figures from the entertainment world took to social media to pay their respects, and the passing sparked a conversation about mental health in the music industry.

One of the figures who was most vocal in calling out for more support was Robbie Williams. Last month, he wrote on Instagram that he felt “shock, sadness and confusion” upon learning of his death, and said that the “trials and tribulations” faced by Payne were similar to his own with Take That.

Now, Williams has addressed the topic once again, and told Newstalk in Dublin that the singer’s death “won’t go unnoticed”.

“I’m sure things will be done in his name to make things better. What they are, I don’t know yet, but I’m in,” he began. “It’s very difficult [and a] grey area to put things into place, to look after people properly. I know there are talks about what to do and how to facilitate this, but [that] comes with already having money in place.”

“That negates the young manager and the young band that are doing everything out the back of a Transit van – who don’t have the money in place to facilitate it. So there’s all of these grey areas,” he added.

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Williams continued (via Goss.ie): “It needs addressing and there needs to be a think tank by creative people, like myself and others to get together and figure out what’s the best way to tackle this problem for our entertainment industry.

“Everybody on the planet right now is neurodiverse, has been through trauma, is struggling to come to terms with their childhood or struggling to come to terms with their place in the world and yeah, it’s very difficult,” he said. “It’s weird times, but it’s really interesting times to be alive too.”

Payne rose to fame as part of One Direction during The X Factor‘s 2010 series, after initially auditioning two years earlier at the age of 14.

He had also opened up about struggles with addiction and mental health in the past. Back in 2021, the singer spoke on Steven Bartlett’s The Diary Of A CEO podcast and recalled how he “didn’t like myself very much” during his time with One Direction.

He went on to talk about how there was “some stuff that I’ve definitely never spoken about” publicly (as per Standard), as well as the struggles he felt from being in the public eye.

Shortly after Payne’s death, a petition was launched calling for a new law to safeguard the mental well-being of artists in the music industry, within hours it had reached over 40,000 signatures. At the time of writing, it has over 137,000 people backing it.

Liam Payne. Credit: Karwai Tang/WireImage/Getty

The petition was launched amid a widespread conversation being triggered about the pressures put on young artists, and various famous faces calling for action to be made.

Songwriter Guy Chambers, for instance, called on the music industry to stop putting minors in boybands, while Williams said the issues faced by pain had some common ground with his history of self-harm and depression as a former boyband member.

Former X Factor contestant Katie Waissel, who competed alongside One Direction on the talent show, called for more “care and support for young artists”, and Rebecca Ferguson, who finished in second place on the same season, paid tribute to Payne while also speaking out against the “exploitation and profiteering of young stars.”

Since news of Payne’s death broke, One Direction’s surviving members Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles shared a joint statement, asking for time “to grieve and process the loss of our brother, who we loved dearly.”

Liam Payne in 2023. London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images)

Later, preliminary toxicology tests revealed that Payne had pink cocaine and several other substances in his system at the time of his fatal balcony fall. A more recent toxicology report confirmed he had cocaine, alcohol and antidepressants in his system at the time of his death.

Earlier this month, three people were charged in connection with his death although none of them were named at the time. On November 10, it was reported that one of the suspects, Braian Nahuel Paiz had broken their silence on the matter.

He admitted to meeting the late One Direction singer twice before his death and confessed to taking drugs with him. However, he insisted that he never supplied Liam Payne with narcotics nor accepted any money from him.

Meanwhile, Rita Ora paid an emotional tribute to Payne while hosting the 2024 MTV EMAs over the weekend, calling him “one of the kindest people that I knew”.