Robbie Williams on the struggles of Liam Payne: “His trials and tribulations were very similar to mine”

nme.com:

Robbie Williams has shared a tribute to Liam Payne, following his untimely death at the age of 31.On Wednesday night (October 16), it was announced that Payne had died after falling from a third-floor balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Per The Guardian, the Argentinian prosecutor’s office revealed that Payne’s cause of death was due to multiple traumas and internal and external bleeding.Williams has joined those paying tribute to Payne in a statement on his Instagram account, writing that he felt “shock, sadness and confusion” upon learning of his death.Recalling his experiences as a mentor to Payne’s former band One Direction during their time competing on the X Factor in 2010.

Williams wrote: “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 piss takery and thought about all the times I was that cheeky pisstaker with the Popstars that had gone before me when I was in Take That.“Our paths have crossed ever since that day and I’m fond of them all.