One Direction Fans Recall Liam Payne’s Strangest Fear After His Passing; Learn More Here
Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of death.
One Direction fans, aka Directioners, have flooded social media with tributes to the late singer Liam Payne. Following his tragic death at 31 on October 16, the devoted fandom has brought back some memorable and wacky stories of the One Direction alum.
From their funny dance moves in the One Way Or Another music video—released on Red Nose Day to help raise money for Comic Relief charity—to their viral memes and silly anecdotes, fans have resurfaced some memorable moments of the band to find comfort amid the tragedy. One of them was Payne’s fear of spoons, which became a topic of discussion in the fandom.
In a tweet from February 2011, the Strip That Down singer publicly confessed to his fear, writing, “I have a phobia of spoons. I haven’t used one in about 10 years.” Since then, the topic has often been brought up in interviews and public appearances, and Payne has repeatedly stuck to his remark.
He went as far as to eat soup with a fork on video to prove his point further. In 2015, during an interview with Capital FM, the 1D alum provided better context to his “phobia” of spoons.
“See I’m not so much scared of spoons, I’ll hold one,” he said. “But I don’t like eating with them if they’re not my spoons if that makes sense. It’s a bit weird.” Payne recalled being very naughty as a young boy and as a punishment, he was often asked to do household chores. But washing utensils particularly the dirty spoons made him irk. “It’s just stuck with me after. I don’t know what people are doing with their spoons. I don’t want to know!” he said at the time.
Payne met his untimely demise after falling from a hotel’s third-floor balcony, suffering a cranial fracture and internal bleeding. Tributes started pouring in since the news broke out. His former bandmates Harry Styles, Zayn, Louis Tomlinson, and Niall Horan remembered their dear friend with heartfelt tributes. Payne is survived by his 18-month-old son Bear, whom he shares with his ex-partner and Girls Aloud star Cheryl.