One Direction star Liam Payne’s battles with fame

Runners-up on the 2010 series of The X Factor, One Direction were a new, different-style of boy band – approachable, relatable, and, apart from their musical talents, normal.

They were the boys-next-door, whose age and good looks made them heartthrobs to millions of young fans around the world.

They went on to sell more than 70 million albums, complete five world tours, produce a feature film and star in a charity music video alongside then-prime minister David Cameron.

All that – at an age when many young people are worrying about their exams, their first loves, or getting tickets to their next gig – let alone starring in it.

“I mean, it was fun,” Payne would later reflect in an interview with Men’s Health Magazine. “We had an absolute blast, but there were certain parts of it where it just got a little bit toxic.”

Paparazzi photographers. Tabloid newspapers. Night after night in hotel rooms, separated from family. Blacked-out tour buses. Fans screaming for autographs. And the new and rapidly growing world of social media.

Few, he felt, could understand the intense pressures of stardom at such a tender age.

‘It’s almost like putting the Disney costume on before you step up on stage,” he said.

He also admitted he used alcohol to cope “because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on”.