Robbie Williams has paid tribute to Liam Payne, revealing the pair battled similar 'trials and tribulations' two days after singer's shocking death aged 31.
The former Take That singer. 50, said he still had his demons when he was Liam's age and always thought he would fall victim to his own mental health battles.
Robbie also shared a sweet a text message exchanged between the pair, after first meeting when he mentored One Direction on the X Factor in 2010.
Liam died after falling from the third floor of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Wednesday, after jetting into the country to see Niall Horan's concert.
In the past Robbie has been very open about his ongoing battle with mental illness and his history of depression and anxiety.
In his 2023 Netflix documentary he reflecting on his 'insane' fame at the height of his career resulting in a 'nervous, mental breakdown in front of thousands of people'.
Robbie shared a heartbreaking tribute alongside a snap of the 2022 text messages where the late star thanked him for his support.
During the exchange Liam admitted he was 'nervous as hell' but gave the Angels hitmaker his word that he wouldn't back out.
Gushing Robbie replied: 'Very proud of you, massive!'.
While the reason for Liam's nerves are unknown, in 2022 he entered rehab in Louisiana after 'hitting rock bottom' following an infamous podcast appearance where he criticised his former bandmates and claimed his first solo single 'outsold' the rest of the group's debuts.
He later said he 'came across really big-headed' and that 'it was hard for me to watch back' but that in a way it had 'saved my life' by causing him to seek help.
In his tribute Robbie penned: 'How to make sense of the Liam Payne tragedy? Obviously, my first feelings towards his passing were like everyone else. Shock, sadness and confusion. And to be honest as I write these words that’s where I still am'.
'I met the boys on The X Factor and ‘’mentored’’ them. I use the word mentored in inverted brackets cos I hardly did anything to be honest. I just hung out with them. They were all cheeky and lovely. I enjoyed the light hearted p*** takery and thought about all the times I was that cheeky p*** takers with the Popstars that had gone before me when I was in Take That'.
He continued: 'Our paths have crossed ever since that day and I’m fond of them all. Liam’s trials and tribulations were very similar to mine, so it made sense to reach out and offer what I could. So I did'.
'I guess in these moments it’s worth repeating - WE DON’T KNOW WHATS GOING ON IN PEOPLE’S LIVES. WHAT PAIN THEY’RE GOING THROUGH AND WHAT MAKES THEM BEHAVE IN THE WAY THAT THEY BEHAVE'.
'BEFORE WE REACH TO JUDGEMENT, A BIT OF SLACK NEEDS TO BE GIVEN'.
'BEFORE YOU TYPE ANYTHING ON THE INTERNET, HAVE A THINK ‘’DO I REALLY NEED TO PUBLISH THIS?’’, BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE DOING. YOU’RE PUBLISHING YOUR THOUGHTS FOR ANYBODY TO READ. EVEN IF YOU DON’T REALLY THINK THAT CELEBRITIES OR THEIR FAMILIES EXIST. THEY F****** DO. SKIN AND BONE AND IMMENSELY SENSITIVE'.
'I still had my demons at 31. I relapsed. I was in pain. I was in pain because I relapsed.I relapsed because of a multitude of painful reasons. I remember Heath Ledger passing and thinking ‘’I’m next’’. By the grace of god and/or dumb luck I’m still here'.
Robbie went on: 'The internet will unfortunately carry on being the internet. The media will unfortunately carry on being the media and fame will carry on being fame'.
'As individuals though we have the power to change ourselves. We can be kinder. We can be more empathic. We can at least try to be more compassionate towards ourselves, our family, our friends, strangers in life and strangers on the internet. Even famous strangers need your compassion'.
Before adding: 'What a Handsome Talented boy. What a tragic painful loss for his friends, family, fans and by the looks of the energy this moment has created - The World. Be Kind'.
From 2006 to 2009, Williams battled agoraphobia. The social anxiety disorder left him housebound for three years.
He has previously revealed he went into rehab in 2007 after taking speed, acid, heroin, cocaine and 'heart-stopping' amounts of prescription drugs.
Liam was outspoken about how the global fame of One Direction changed his life and affected his relationship with drugs and alcohol, once admitting: 'I don't know if I've hit rock bottom yet.'
Speaking to Stephen Bartlett on the Diary Of The CEO Podcast in 2021, Liam, admitted: 'I was worried how far my rock bottom was going to be. Where's rock bottom for me? And you would never have seen it. I'm very good at hiding it'.
'I don't even know if I have hit it yet. I can either make that choice now and pick my last moment as my rock bottom or I can make a whole new low.'
He admitted he had suffered for years with 'social anxiety' and 'stress' from being famous, and discussed the pressure his mental health was under while not having the freedom to go anywhere as a boyband member.
The Wolverhampton teenager first auditioned for the X Factor aged 14 before returning two years later when One Direction was formed.
They became one of the biggest pop groups in the world but six years after they were formed, with more than 20 million albums sold, the band were placed on indefinite hiatus.
The band have revealed how they went straight from The X Factor to stardom, with Liam recalling how his dad told him during the build up to the December X Factor final 'don't come home until Christmas the day that I left for the show and I never came home.'
Marking One Direction's 10th anniversary in 2020, Payne shared a screenshot of a text message he sent to his father on the day he joined the group, reading: 'I'm in a boyband.'
'What a journey... I had no idea what we were in for when I sent this text to my dad years ago at this exact time the band was formed,' he said.
Liam had in recent years talked about his journey to sobriety, and how his drinking began when the global mania for the boyband meant they were often stuck in hotel rooms, where alcohol was readily available.
He told Stephen Bartlett on the Diary Of The CEO Podcast: 'It feels to me, like when we were in the band. The best way to secure us was to lock us in our rooms, and what is in the room? A mini-bar.
'So I had a party-for-one that seemed to carry on for many years of my life, and then you look back at how long you've been drinking? And Jesus Christ that's a long time, even for someone as young as I am.'
In multiple interviews Liam explained how he'd used alcohol to cope with both the massive success of One Direction and their subsequent split, telling Men's Health Australia in 2019 that 'it's difficult when you have the level of fame that we had in the band.'
'There have been a lot of people in trouble with mental health that aren't really getting the help that they need, and I think that's a bit of a problem in our industry,'
'It's the same s**t that happens to everyone, that's been happening since the '70s. You know what the traps are and if you are lucky enough, like me, to be able to get out of that scenario and back into a sense of normality, then you know it's a bit different.'
Liam went onto compare going on stage and out in public to 'putting the Disney costume on,' admitting: 'I was [drunk] quite a lot of the time because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on'.
'I mean, it was fun. We had an absolute blast, but there were certain parts of it where it just got a little bit toxic.'
