Liam Payne’s ex Maya Henry shares explosive statement amid claims singer ‘started smoking heroin’

The ex of Liam Payne, YouTuber Maya Henry, has spoken out for the first time since his death.

One Direction star Liam tragically died in October 2024 aged just 31. He fell from his hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.

In November, a toxicology report released by by the prosecutor’s office said Liam had traces of “alcohol, cocaine and prescription antidepressants” in his system when he died.

At the time, he was dating Kate Cassidy, having struck up a romance in 2022. Prior to Kate, he was in a relationship with Maya on and off from 2018 until 2022 – with the pair getting engaged in 2020.

Now, Maya has reflected on her relationship with Liam in a heartbreaking new statement.

Maya Henry on relationship with Liam Payne

In a written statement to Rolling Stone, Maya opened up about her relationship with Liam, revealing it was “the drug use and addictions that tore us apart”.

I didn’t want to give up on him.

Maya went on to claim that Liam “hurt” her in “ways I’ll never fully understand”.

According to Maya, when he was on drugs Liam was “unrecognisable” – and she “kept hoping” that “each incident would be a wake-up call” for Liam to get help.

However, Maya said “it never was”.

Maya ‘ignored every red flag’

Maya – who says she loved Liam “so much” – also noted how she “convinced” herself she could fix things and that Liam would change.

“I put myself in situations that were unsafe and harmful, ignoring every red flag because I didn’t want to give up on him,” Maya said.

She then revealed how despite her attempts to “save him” she was “drowning in the process”.

‘I felt defrauded’

Revealing that Liam was “struggling with parts of his identity’”, Maya said: “I saw the signs; I felt the distance. In the end, it wasn’t just the betrayals or the addictions that broke us. It was the realization that I had spent years in something that was never what I thought it was. I don’t fault him for his struggles.”

Also in her emotional statement, Maya recalled feeling both “heartbroken” and “defrauded” following her split from Liam.

“I stood by him in his darkest moments, through the chaos, through the pain, through things that broke me in ways I can’t explain,” she said.

However, Maya went on to note that “when it was all over” she was left with “nothing but emptiness”.

She explained: “The love I gave, the sacrifices I made — they weren’t enough because they never could be. I wasn’t just heartbroken; I felt defrauded, as so many women in my position would.”

Maya then insisted that she knew it “wasn’t about me or anything I did”. She claimed it was “about struggles beyond my control”.

Liam Payne ‘smoked heroin’ claims source

What’s more, Rolling Stones also reports that a source close to Maya alleged that the full extent of Liam’s drug addiction was discovered by the time they ended their engagement.

“It was normal for Liam to do cocaine, ketamine, MDMA, and pharmaceutical pills (Xanax and pain pills). Then he got into smoking heroin,” the source claimed.

Read more: Kate Cassidy details final day she spent with Liam Payne before his death