Liam Payne’s 911 call: Hotel manager called for help before star died

Moments before One Direction member Liam Payne died after jumping from a hotel balcony in Argentina, a hotel manager had called the police and asked for help with a guest who was ” very drunk on drugs and alcohol.”

Liam Payne’s 911 call

Audio of the call to police has circulated on social media in the hours since Payne’s death, sending shockwaves around the world. The Associated Press also obtained audio of the 911 call.

“We have a guest who is too drunk on drugs and alcohol,” the hotel manager in Buenos Aires can be heard saying. “When the guest is conscious, he’s breaking everything in the room. And we need you to send someone over, please.

“We need you to send someone urgently because I don’t know if his life is in danger because the guest is in a room with a balcony, and we’re a little afraid that he might do something life-threatening.”

Death of Liam Payne

Payne, 31, was found dead in the hotel courtyard. Pablo Policicchio, the director of communications for the Ministry of Security in Buenos Aires, said in a statement to the AP that Payne had “jumped from the balcony of his room.”

PARIS, FRANCE – MARCH 1: Liam Payne is seen on March 1, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Marc Piasecki/GC Images)

Payne was one of five members of One Direction, which formed after each audition for the British singing competition “The X Factor” in 2010, two years after Payne’s first attempt to enter the show. At age 16 for the second time, Payne sang Michael Bublé’s version of “Cry Me a River,” appearing nervous at the start but warming up to the audience’s cheers and applause.

Payne was known as the angry, no-nonsense quintet who went from a TV talent show to a pop phenomenon with a huge international following of swooning fans.

Payne had opened up about his mental health and addiction issues as early as 2021, according to FOX News. He told Steven Barlett on “The Diary of a CEO” podcast that many of his days were filled with “pills and booze” and that he had “moments of suicidal ideation.”

He had acknowledged in recent years that he had struggled with alcoholism, saying in a YouTube video posted in July 2023 that he had been sober for six months after receiving treatment.

Dozens of One Direction fans flocked from Buenos Aires to the Casa Sur hotel after the news broke, forming lines that spilled into the cordoned-off street outside the hotel where police stood guard.

Payne is survived by his 7-year-old son, Bear Gray Payne, his parents, Geoff and Karen Payne, and his two older sisters, Ruth and Nicola.