Liam Payne was seen arguing with a woman about money in the lobby of his hotel just hours before he died falling from a balcony in Buenos Aires, a fellow guest has claimed.
The 31-year-old former One Direction singer plunged 45ft from the third floor into the courtyard of the Casa Sur Hotel in the Argentinian capital on Wednesday, sparking a wave of grief around the world.
In the wake of the tragedy, hotel guests shared their chilling recollections of the moments before his death, including hearing ‘violent noises’ and a ‘scream’.
One guest claims Payne had made a shocking admission just minutes before he plunged to his death claiming: ‘I used to be in a boy band – that’s why I’m so f**ked up’.
Michael Fleischmann, from the United States, was also staying in the luxury hotel and claims just three hours before Payne’s death the singer seemed ‘a little wild’ as he argued with an unnamed woman about money.
He claimed the former boy band star kept repeating to the woman: ‘I’ll give you $20,000 dollars just because I can. I have $55 million and I like to help people.’
During the ‘very tense situation’ the woman is said to have spoken in Spanish with the hotel manager translating the conversation to Payne at around 2pm local time.
Mr Fleischmann told the Buenos Aires Herald that he only recognised that the man ‘with an English accent who seemed to be causing a disturbance’ in the lobby was Payne until after news of his death broke.
He added that the singer had ‘seemed very upset, agitated, a little wild, walking around and pacing’ and ‘seemed very energized’.
Mr Fleischmann’s mother Toni added: ‘It just looked like she was extremely uncomfortable with him, and a little apprehensive.
‘It was just my son, me, Liam Payne, the woman and the staff. The manager was trying to politely intervene or calm him down. There was a feeling of anxiety in the area.’
The mother and son ended up getting in the same lift as Payne. They later left the hotel and the woman seen arguing with the star was outside the building on the phone.
Payne was found dead by police who say they found the popstar’s medicines including clonazepam – a drug which is used to control epilepsy, involuntary muscle spasms and panic disorders.
