When One Direction announced their hiatus, it left a lot of their fans worried and a bit heartbroken that they won’t get to see much of their favourite band in 2016. But at least there’s a bright side to the story, and Liam’s parents are here to tell it.
When you’re constantly traveling the world with your closest friends and doing the thing you love most, it takes time away from being with your family. We all remember the tears streaming down our faces when Karen Payne, Liam’s mom, said for the boy’s This Is Us movie “We miss him. He left home my little boy and became the boy in a magazine. If I have this I can still see him every day. When I see him on stage I absolutely burst with pride, but we do miss him so much.” while buying a cardboard cut-out of her beloved son.
Two years later, 1D announced that they will be taking some time off (WHICH IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD, even though it may seem like it) and Karen told Express & Star her honest opinion on Liam’s fame in the beginning of his career: “It happened much too quickly for me. There was X Factor and then everything just seemed to explode. It was too much to take in, partly because I never believed it would go as mad as it did.”
Geoff Payne, Liam’s dad, admitted: “It’s something you expect I suppose, but nothing can really prepare you for those times when he’s not around. In the first year of 1D we used to measure the time we saw him in days, then it went down to hours the bigger they got. In the last year it’s been minutes, and each one of those is incredibly precious. We’ve seen more of him outside the country than we have in England. For Liam even getting time to himself has been difficult at times.”
Within the five years that One Direction has existed, a lot of fans can say that they’ve witnessed the members grow more mature and more successful, but their pride can not compare to the pride of his parents who have been there for every step of the way, even before the band was formed. Geoff continues to talk about his son and his early talents: “He has always had something special about him. In between the two X Factors’ I was frustrated going to work, always thinking: “I’ve got this popstar here, how on earth do I go about making it happen?” He would leave a positive impression on everyone. His talent was tangible. As a family we wanted to keep him focused and once success started to happen for him it was all about turning that into a career. Any parent can identify talent in their children and want them to do well, but he was just so self-motivated that he was always going to make a go of it.”
And just how has fame changed Liam? By he words of his mother, not much: “He’s had all the success but he’s still just a normal lad who likes playing Playstation, watching films and making a barbecue for his family and friends.”
But of course Liam’s parents know him too well, and while they’re hoping that their son will use his time to relax, they say that it probably won’t last too long: “I would hope he’ll take a breather once 1D is done, but knowing Liam he’ll want to get back into it after a few months.”
We here at CelebMix wish nothing but the very best for Liam, and what can be better than him taking some time off to relax and surround himself with the people who have loved and supported him since the very beginning.