I had a front-row seat to One Direction’s rise to fame — here’s how drugs, girls and stress tore them apart

One Direction found fame inside a nondescript North London TV studio, next to a McDonald’s and opposite a kebab shop — and I had a front row seat for the making of the world’s biggest boy band.

Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik were just teenagers in 2010 when they were brought together as a band on “The X Factor,” Simon Cowell’s talent show that aired in the UK on Saturday nights.

As TV Editor at The Sun, one of Britain’s best selling newspapers, I would regularly sit backstage, gossiping with Cowell and judge Louis Walsh in their dressing rooms. (Cowell always puffed on his trademark Kook menthol cigarettes, despite a studio ban on smoking.)

Simon Cowell and other judges on the UK’s “The X Factor” assembled One Direction with show contestants. From left: Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Cowell, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan. Getty Images

And I was often in the audience as the band performed for an average of 14 million TV viewers per episode.

The five boys formed an instant brotherhood. And Payne — who tragically died on Wednesday after falling from a third-floor balcony at a Buenos Aires hotel — immediately became the “ringleader” of the band, one former show staffer told me.

But once the boys left the show and found global fame, “That’s when it all went to s–t,” the staffer recalled.

Substances, egos and stress — not to mention fame itself — tore apart their brotherly bond. When the band broke up in 2016, it only got worse. And Payne, who had been a prolific co-writer in the band, never reached the solo career success of Styles, Horan or Malik.

Liam Payne fell to his death on September 16, from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires. Instagram/@liampayne

Payne first auditioned for “The X Factor” a few years before he made the cut. Fremantle Media/Shutterstock

“Liam moved to the US,” the staffer said. “He had no friends. He was surrounded by yes men and no one knew how to say no to him.”

Tragedy, the staffer said was “inevitable. He was so far from what really matters — and not realizing how f—ed up he was.”

Sources told Page Six that, in the days before his death, Payne was suffering from a “very significant drug addiction” — and surrounded by young staffers keen to get him back on the road and making money.

“They were really pushing him to go on the road and back on tour and he was only just out of rehab,” said a well-placed industry source.

Payne (left), seen here performing with Styles at a One Direction concert in 2015, has said being stuck in a hotel room — unable to leave because of fans — drove him to drink. FilmMagic

The One Direction star discovered he was dropped by his record label, Universal, just over a month ago, I’m told, and was subsequently let go by his London-based publicist.

Payne was just 14 when he first auditioned for “The X Factor” in 2008 with “Fly Me To the Moon,” but didn’t reach the live show rounds.

“Liam’s mom, Karen, used to phone us all the time,” revealed a former “The X Factor” producer, “begging us to let him come back on the show.”

When Payne returned two years later, viewers watched the judges assemble a boy band as if playing God. Placing Styles and Horan’s photos together, Nicole Scherzinger gasped, “Yes! they are going to be the cutest boy band ever, the little girls are going to love them!”

This is reportedly the last photo of Payne before his death. America TV

Payne reportedly “broke the room” before his death, according to a 911 call from hotel staff. .

Each week, the boys would perform at Fountain Studios in Wembley, in the gray suburbs of North London, which is hardly the showbiz center of the world.

They would come bounding backstage after the show, spilling over each other like overeager puppies, to be reunited with their families in the crowded cafeteria.

In no time, teenage girls began to flock outside the studios.

Although Cowell always told me he believed 1D would win, they came in third place — behind singers Rebecca Ferguson and winner Matt Cardle. I was at the finale as cameras caught Styles whispering to Cardle: “Think how much p—y you’re going to get!”

Styles has gone on to great solo success — including Grammys. REUTERS

Aware he had something huge, Cowell signed the band to his Syco record label. One Direction’s debut album, “Up All Night,” was released in 2011 and reached No. 1 in 16 counties, including the US. Suddenly, they were the biggest thing in the world. They set out on tour. Then another album the next year. Another tour. Another album in 2013. Another tour.

But behind the scenes, all that fame was hard to live with — especially on the road.

Payne later revealed that being “locked” inside his hotel room, unable to go out because of crazed fans, was the start of his struggles with alcohol.

In an interview with the “Diary of a CEO” podcast in 2021, Payne said he had abused “pills and booze” and had “moments of suicidal ideation” during the peak of the band’s wild success, admitting he was not sure “how far [his] rock bottom” was going to be.

Payne (left) and Styles, along with Horan, reportedly traveled separate from Malik because of the latter constantly smoking marijuana. WireImage

“In the band … the best way to secure us, because of how big we’d got, was just to lock us in our rooms. What’s in the room? A mini bar,” he said of life on the road.

Being “trapped” in “lonely hotel rooms … really f—d me up,” Payne added.

He wasn’t the only one.

Malik has spoken and written about his struggles with panic attacks and an eating disorder while in the band, and how he coped by turning to marijuana.

One insider who worked frequently with the band told me that Malik’s marijuana use made him “paranoid” — with things eventually getting so bad that Styles refused to share a tour bus or jet with him.

Payne has a 7-year-old son, Bear, with “The X Factor” judge Cheryl Cole. The two dated for two years. AP

“He’d just be on the tour bus [smoking] all the way to the venue. It led Harry to get a separate tour bus with Niall and Liam — Louis would join Zayn,” the insider said.

“Zayn wasn’t happy in the band, it wasn’t for him,” the insider added. “He didn’t like the whole constantly touring thing and being given a schedule.

““In the beginning, Zayn was quite sweet. He just became a different person. When you are smoking weed to that extent, it really affects you. He was just so difficult that he wouldn’t turn up for stuff, like photo shoots or even gigs. He would block himself in the house, smoking loads of weed, and it made him really unreliable,” said the insider.

“You just didn’t know when Zayn was going to turn up, whether for a recording session or a concert,” said a record executive who worked with the band.

Zayn Malik has spoken and written about his struggles with panic attacks and an eating disorder while in One Direction. WWD via Getty Images

According to the insider, Malik “was very aggressive towards the end of the band, having fierce rows with people he worked with.”

In March 2015, Malik quit the band, later telling the “Call Her Daddy” podcast that the band members had grown “sick of each other.”

By that time, Styles and Tomlinson reportedly had a massive falling out which they have never spoken of, while Payne was said to be at his “breaking point” due to the relentless schedule — with a “backstage meltdown” causing the cancellation of a gig in Belfast in 2015.

The Sun reported that, as Payne battled to save his relationship with high school girlfriend Sophia Smith, he pulled out of the Attitude Awards hours before he was due to accept a trophy. He blamed sickness but was spotted later that night in a local market.  

Payne (left) had traveled to Argentina to see his former 1D bandmate Niall Horan in concert. Instagram

After selling more than 50 million records, One Direction went on a permanent hiatus in 2016.

Their solo careers have met varying degrees of success.

Under the impeccable management of Hollywood music manager Irving Azoff’s son Jeffrey, Harry Styles has soared. His three albums have seen chart-topping debuts, he’s had inescapable songs like 2022’s “As It Was,” he’s won three Grammys, and he’s branched into acting with movies such as “Don’t Worry Darling.”

But even his lyrics have revealed a dark side.

Horan had a high-profile stint as a judge on “The Voice.” Tyler Golden/NBC via Getty Images

“Answer the phone/ Harry, you’re no good alone/Why are you sitting at home on the floor?What kind of pills are you on?” he sings on “As It Was,” making it clear his loved ones have worried about him.

Tomlinson and Horan have had moderate chart success and the latter landed a high-profile stint as a judge on “The Voice” that ended last year.

Malik initially scored big hits with the song “Pillowtalk” and duets with Taylor Swift and Sia, but lost his record contract with RCA after his third solo album, “Nobody Is Listening,” failed to light up the charts in 2021, only reaching No. 44 on the US Billboard 200.

He’s more recently reinvented himself, adopting a Nashville sound for this year’s “A Room Under the Stairs,” which debuted at No. 3.

Payne alienated his former bandmates when he spoke out about the reasons why he disliked Zayn. He later apologized and seemed eager to mend fences. Here, he’s seen with Tomlinson (left) in London in March 2023. GC Images

One well-placed music insider told me this week that, a few years ago, he went to visit Malik in a London recording studio and the studio was so filled with strong weed “I couldn’t even find my way to the tube when I left.”

This was around the time Malik pleaded no contest to harassing Yolanda Hadid, the mother of his ex-girlfriend, supermodel Gigi Hadid, with whom he shares a young daughter, Khai.

But, commercially, Payne struggled the most — making records but never really breaking through.

He made headlines in 2022 when he told Jake Paul there were “many reasons why I dislike Zayn” and “many reasons why I’ll always be on his side”

Tomlinson sided with Malik in the past, choosing to travel with him when his other bandmates refused. Dave Benett/Getty Images

Payne then apologized, calling his comments a “scramble to stay relevant.” In 2023, he revealed that he had done 100 days in rehab to focus on his sobriety.

But insiders say Payne had slipped since then. The Sun reported that he tried to get clean with another hospital stay in July but left after only three days.

Just weeks before his death, Payne, who had moved to Palm Beach in Florida, lost his record deal with Universal Music and was dropped by his publicist.

Girlfriend Kate Cassidy was with Payne in Argentina, but left days before his death. WireImage

On Thursday, singer-songwriter Rebecca Ferguson — who competed on “The X Factor” with One Direction — revealed she had tried to reach out to Payne in the days before his death because she was worried for him.

“I’m upset with the people that profit from him, why were you allowing this person to spiral,” she said.

Speaking on a live X Space with One Direction fans, she added, “I could see it, I tried to reach out last week. I just can’t get my head around why no one intervened, why no one was stepping in … “

But a well-placed music industry source told me, “There’s an element of luck in all of this…people can sign with sycophants and stars can be quite hard to protect.”

“It is a record business and they’re there to make music. And if someone is not profitable then [getting dropped from a deal is] what happens,” the insider said. “It’s a tragedy. Some of the boybands, the pressure is so intense and some, like Liam, just never recover.”