Liam Payne was happy to go his separate ways from Simon Cowell. Simon helped form the famous boy group on The X-Factor in 2010 before they went on hiatus in 2016

Liam Payne did not always have the best relationship with One Direction founder, Simon Cowell.

Liam was one of five members of One Direction alongside Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Harry Styles. The global boy band was formed on the TV show The X-Factor in 2010 by Cowell and Nicole Scherzinger. Zayn departed from the group in 2015, which caused the group to go on a brief hiatus a year later. Niall, Louis, Liam and Harry continued on and released Made in the A.M. later that year and then went their separate ways in 2016.

While Niall, Harry, Louis and Zayn signed deals with Sony where Simon stood as an influence, Liam went a different route and accepted a multi-million dollar deal with Capitol Records. Liam also hired a new manager.

A source close to Liam told the Daily Mail that he was “delighted to shed himself of Cowell and Sony.” They added that “it was the new start he needed.” Friends of Liam noted that he felt like a “caged animal” when he was under Simon’s management.

Simon formed One Direction in 2010 ( Image: Getty Images)

The relationship between and Simon became nonexistent when the group went their split up. Liam debuted his first solo album, LP1, on December 6, 2019. While Liam only released one record, he confirmed that he was working on music for his second studio album in May 2023.

Sadly, fans all over the world were not given the chance to hear the new music. Liam died on Wednesday, October 16, at 31. Liam was vacationing in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo in Argentina when he fell from the third floor of his hotel balcony. An autopsy showed that Liam also had a variety of drugs in his system.

Two days after Liam’s death, Simon broke his silence and wrote a long felt post on Instagram and revealed that the two reunited not too long ago. It read: “You never really know how you feel about someone until a moment like this happens. Liam, I am devastated… You came to see me last year. Not for a meeting. Just to sit and talk. And we reminisced about all of the fun times we had together. And how proud you were to be a Dad. After you left, I was reminded that you were still the sweet, kind boy I had met all of those years ago.”