Zayn Malik's sister forced to speak out after Liam Payne's death aged 31

The X Factor star's sister has paid tribute to the Wolverhampton singer, who was one-fifth of chart-topping boyband One Direction, after he plunged from a hotel balcony in Argentina.

Zayn Malik’s sister has addressed Liam Payne’s tragic death in a tear-jerking new message. The ITV The X Factor star's sister has paid tribute to the Wolverhampton singer, who was one-fifth of chart-topping boyband One Direction, after he plunged from a hotel balcony in Argentina.

Zayn’s younger sister Waliyha, 26, shared snaps photos of Liam and his One Direction bandmates over the years on her Instagram Story on Thursday, as she told her followers she was still in shock over news of Liam’s passing. “Literally hearbroken. RIP. I have no words,” she wrote.

Both musicians were thrust into the spotlight alongside Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson while on The X Factor in 2010 to form One Direction. After releasing four albums as a group, Malik announced his departure from the boy band in March 2015.

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“He had to do what he had to do really, for himself,” Payne said of Malik during a May 2015 interview. “It’s fine. We’re just going to carry on doing what we’re doing. We wish him all the best with whatever he goes into and stuff. We’ll just have to see what happens.”

In 2017, Payne said all was “fine and good” with Malik despite the “Pillowtalk” singer’s negative comments about being in the group. “If he feels hurt and scorned in some sort of way that I don’t really understand, that’s down to him so there we go,” Payne shared on “The Dan Wootton Interview” podcast at the time. “It is very sad because One Direction was a wonderful, wonderful time in all of our lives.”

“Zayn makes music, but he doesn’t really perform,” Payne stated on the “Killing It” podcast in April 2020. “For him, he had such performance anxiety that he just couldn’t put his head around it.” Payne recalled watching Malik’s “really great” first solo performance after leaving the group.

“I think he is just kind of happy,” Payne speculated. “He likes going to the studio, making the songs, he just doesn’t want to do anything that happens after that. But he is streaming hugely.”