Can Kids Be Stars? What Liam Payne’s Death Reveals About Child Fame

Published: October 29, 2024

Can Kids Be Stars? What Liam Payne’s Death Reveals About Child Fame

By Movieguide® Contributor

Liam Payne died at 31 after falling from a three-story balcony in Argentina a few weeks ago, and since then, fans have contemplated the devastating role fame played in his life.

Payne was just 17 when he and his One Direction bandmates — Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson — launched to worldwide fame.

“One Direction, one of the biggest boy bands in history, released five studio albums and 17 hit singles and went on four world tours, traveling with a portable recording studio so they could put together one album while promoting another,” Jennifer Weiner with the New York Times reported.

Wherever the band went, fans flocked to them, sometimes trapping the boys in their hotel rooms to escape the crazed enthusiasts.

Since 17, every aspect of Payne’s life landed in the spotlight, taking its toll.

“The effects [of fame] can be particularly destabilizing when the star in question is still just a kid. And all too often, the people who should be looking out for these valuable, vulnerable quantities are, instead, cashing in,” Weiner said.

In 2019, Payne acknowledged that fame left him feeling trapped.

“There’s no stop button,” he told Jessie and Lennie Ware on the Table Manners Podcast. The singer struggled with addiction and maintaining relationships, Weiner said.

“You’ve got no control over your life,” he added of being a child star. “That’s why I lost complete control of everything.”

Fellow child star Miley Cyrus expressed similar sentiments to TODAY.com.

“There’s so much I don’t remember about being a child entertainer because it was so much to keep in my brain,” she said. “It’s like anything when you are in it. I didn’t realize how much pressure I was under and how that shaped me until, like, this year.”

“People were so shocked by some of the things that I did,” she added. “It should be more shocking that when I was 11 or 12, I was put in full hair and makeup, a wig, and told what to wear by a group of mostly older men.”

To protect future child stars, several of Payne’s celebrity friends challenged the music industry to enforce safety measures to protect young performers.

Irish singer Mikey Graham wrote on his X page, “Rip Liam Payne. Such tragic news. I think it would be a wise move for record companies to have psychologists on their books from now on in his memory as a duty of care for the vulnerability of their young talent. Fame can be very damaging especially in today’s world. Lots of money. Nobody to help. Lots of yes people. Nobody honest.”

Freelance music consultant Linda Byrne added, “The music industry needs to start protecting its stars and future rising stars too. Drug addiction and alcohol abuse is endemic. Imagine if we had more access to mental health support services in this industry?! The lives that wouldn’t be lost and the healing that is so badly needed, especially for the men of this world, would be a total game changer.”

While children playing a role in the entertainment industry is inevitable, practices should be put in place to protect their mental and emotional well-being.