Liam Payne: Success and Failure

Stanton Peele By: Dr. Stanton Peele

Posted on October 17th, 2024
This content was written in accordance with our Editorial Guidelines.

What’s the Right Length of Time in Rehab?

Liam Payne plunged to his death from a third-floor room in a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, apparently intoxicated.

He was 31.

What a horrible tragedy for anybody. But especially after having been a member of one of the most successful British “boy bands” of all time — One Direction.

The group was put together in 2011 by entertainment entrepreneur Simon Colwell.

The group had 29 hits on Billboard’s Hot 100, making it one of the most visible bands of the 2010s.

As often happens in such situations, the group broke apart in 2015. From 2011 to 2015 is a long time; but only a small part of one’s life.

And then what do you do with yourself?

Payne described spending a lot of time in hotel rooms, where he says he developed a drinking problem.

Payne’s Own Words

This is how Payne described the process:

“It feels to me like when we were in the band the best way to secure us, because of how big it got, was just lock us in our rooms,” Mr. Payne said on the “Diary of a CEO” podcast in June 2021. “Of course, what’s in the room? Mini bar. So at a certain point I thought well I’m going to have a party for one.”

Payne was a real musician who could sing and who wrote several of the group’s hits. He continued in his solo career. But his career notably took a dive after the group broke up.

What would compensate? How would he live his new role?

Post-Rehab Reflections

Payne described his resolution this way in a 2023 YouTube video after spending 100 days in rehab:

“I kind of became someone I didn’t recognize.” And so he quit drinking.

“It’s good to be in this position,” he said. “I definitely don’t need those things anymore. The party’s over.”

And was drinking or quitting drinking his problem?

After more than three months, he still hadn’t learned how to spend time alone in a hotel room. At least, well enough to survive.


At the Life Process Program (LPP)

At the Life Process Program, we frame the issue differently, as how one carries on their life with purpose and meaning.

Payne had skills and connections to utilize them, if perhaps not at the level of popularity he was used to.

He also had a seven-year-old son. That’s enough to continue a successful life, with the right-sized aspirations and efforts.

How does one put those things together?

Abstaining from alcohol didn’t answer that question. And a hundred days in rehab apparently didn’t help him cope with his situation either.

Could being in an artificial isolated setting with fellow abstainers there help him do that?

Or was it a matter of being out and living, developing new ways to integrate his skills and to find day-to-day satisfaction?

You know, the nitty-gritty of all of our lives.

That’s what the Life Process Program does—helps people direct their lives overall, to find satisfaction and a real lifestyle. Which might or might not include being alone in hotel rooms.

Stanton Peele

Dr. Stanton Peele, recognized as one of the world's leading addiction experts, developed the Life Process Program after decades of research, writing, and treatment about and for people with addictions. Dr. Peele is the author of 14 books. His work has been published in leading professional journals and popular publications around the globe.

Comments

  • Carl asick says:

    There’s an article a MS Seronow wrote years ago where she asks why she has has to consider herself being “in recovery” when getting over most issues is just called dealing with life.

    She talked about being in recovery from many things that happened to her over her life, and she asks why than is her drinking d/o any different?

    Liam? … I’ve found that being an addiction counselor for 22 years, can be really hard when you’re not “in recovery ” at many places and you’re not a psychologist. Some folks hate that you got sober through counseling.
    I’m not a big fan of the whole recovery model but it works for many. I’m always shocked at how little people know about alternative models of addiction counseling. I think the Life Process model, regular counseling, self learning and ultimately making real changes in various aspects of his life would have suited Liam well.
    I wish the field did better at letting people know that there are alternatives and that it’s ok to use them.

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