A childhood friend of Liam Payne has revealed their last conversation – where he told the star to ‘not let fame get into his head’.
John Carpenter, 31, first met the One Direction hitmaker on the first day of year 7 at St Peter’s Collegiate in Wolverhampton. He explained how Liam was his first friend at secondary school – and how sports united them throughout the years. They both went to compete in cross country together. Teacher John said: “He was so passionate about running – he was an athlete before he was a singer. He was the best runner in our school from year 7 and year 9. His mum would always sit next to my mum in cross country filming with her camera.”
“Liam encouraged me to be as good as he was and he was very caring and inspiring. He really just encouraged everyone around the year.”
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The last time that he saw Liam was a week before he participated in the X Factor finals in 2010 – the year he would become part of the boy band. He recalls how Liam – jokingly – asked him to be his bodyguard after appearing on X Factor.
John added: “Liam said ‘John you might have to be my bodyguard’ and 30 seconds later everyone in the school was trying to get a photo with Liam. It would be the last time I saw him – and I had a feeling – it was the last time I would see him. He was a totally different person – fame changed him a lot.”
Remembering their last conversation, John said: “My last ever words to Liam was ‘I know you are getting all this fame but whatever you do don’t let the fame get in your head and don’t forget the time we had together.'”
He recalls when Liam was living in Canary Wharf that they were organising a meet up but the message was ‘cut-off’. He remembers Liam changing his phone number ‘6 times’.
He said: “We exchanged Facebooks after he had become successful. But everyone was basically cut off and he was told to leave his past behind.”
When he got the news of Liam’s passing he said he thought it was a ‘prank’.
John added: “I was in shock. I had seen videos of him in Argentina and everything seemed fine and suddenly we heard the news and I was very tearful. He was a very humble character.”
“My prayer for Liam was stay grounded and humble because fame and money can do a lot of things to you. I just hope that his family finds peace out of this situation. It has been a complete shock for everyone in Wolverhampton.”
John said that seeing fans gathering across the world to pay tribute to the start is a ‘testament’ to how much he was admired.
“He wanted others to succeed and be humble,” said John.
“I think mental health is really important – it is sadly another case of having all of the money and it doesn’t make you happy.”
In a tragic turn of events last week, Liam fell from the third floor of a hotel building in the Argentinian capital. Police, firefighters and ambulances were seen outside of a hotel building after Liam tragically fell. Police are said to have been called to reports of a man acting aggressively at the hotel who could be under the effect of drink or drugs.
A body was found in an internal patio of the hotel and the force was called by the hotel manager. It’s believed that Liam fell from around 13 or 14 metres and suffered “very serious injuries incompatible with life.”
An initial toxicology report has found that Mr Payne had cocaine in his body at the time of his death, according to an Argentine official. Payne’s father, Geoff, had flown to Argentina to arrange the return of his son’s body to the UK – which Argentine authorities expect to release next week.