Louis Tomlinson is reflecting on the first anniversary of his One Direction bandmate Liam Payne’s death.

“[Liam’s death] is something I’ll never really accept. I don’t think,” Tomlinson, 33, admitted in an interview with The Independent published on Saturday, October 18.

The “Just Hold On” singer has faced tragedy throughout his life, as his mother, Johannah Deakin, succumbed to leukemia at age 43 in 2016 and his sister Felicite died at age 18 in 2019. Then, in October 2024, Payne died from injuries sustained when he fell from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

“I naively thought that, at this point, I’d unfortunately be a little bit more well versed with grief than other people my age,” Tomlinson admitted. “I thought that might mean something, but it didn’t at all.”

Liam Payn

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