A friend who was with Liam Payne an hour before he tragically died has opened up about how the singer was prior to the incident.
As widely reported, the One Direction star, 31, died on October 16 after suffering "internal and external hemorrhaging" after falling from a third-floor balcony.
The incident occurred at the CasaSur Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Payne’s close friend, Roger Nores, has since shared new insights into the One Direction star's tragic death.
Nores, a businessman from Argentina who befriended Payne in 2020 at a Vogue event in London, was with the singer on the day he died.
In a recent interview featured in the new documentary TMZ Investigates: Liam Payne: Who’s to Blame?, Nores pushed back against reports that Payne had been in a frenzied state before his death, instead describing him as "in good spirits".
Nores revealed details of their final interaction, describing Payne as relaxed and cheerful.
"I'm a very good friend of Liam, and I was with him the day that he passed away," Nores said in the documentary.
"He was in good spirits. He was like talking to 10 or 15 Americans that were here for a wedding. And so he was talking to them, and he was joking around."
Recalling when he left the hotel that day, Nores added: "I left like at 4:05, or so, and he was in good spirits. He was perfectly balanced, like talking to everybody, having fun, laughing, so nothing out of the ordinary and that’s when I said, ‘Okay, bye.’"
The documentary also addresses accusations of abandonment that Nores faced after Payne’s death, a claim he denies and which has not resulted in any charges.
He explained that he returned to the hotel multiple times to check on Payne, who had appeared "tipsy" earlier in the day but "nothing out of the ordinary."
When questioned by TMZ’s Harvey Levin about Payne’s state an hour before the fall, Nores reiterated: "He seemed playful and happy."
Despite Nores' account, other reports suggest Payne was intoxicated and disorderly in the hours leading to his death.
These claims are contrary to reports that a manager made a concerned call about the singer just moments before his death.
The manager, identified as Esteban, described the situation, noting Payne’s room had a balcony, which raised fears for his safety, per Sky News.
Esteban urgently requested medical and police assistance, stating: "We are asking to send someone with urgency because I don't know if the guest's life is in danger."
Emergency personnel were dispatched, but tragically, Payne fell to his death before help arrived.
In the wake of Payne’s death, the receptionist manager Esteban Reynaldo Grassi and the hotel’s operations manager Gilda Agustina Martín have been charged.
While the exact nature of the charges remains undisclosed, court documents obtained by Rolling Stone state: “Since there is sufficient reason to suspect that they have participated in the investigated act, we ask that the following people give a statement.”
Both are scheduled to appear in court on December 19.
