Liam Payne ‘passed out and was convulsing’ in hotel lobby moments before his death

A guest at the hotel where Liam Payne died has claimed the singer ‘passed out’ in the lobby shortly before his death and was seen ‘convulsing’.

The One Direction singer died aged 31 following a fall at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that led to ‘internal and external haemorrhaging’, preliminary autopsy results announced.

Brett Watson, from Chicago, who was staying at the Casa Sur Palermo Hotel, described the final moments in which he saw Payne alive.

Watson claimed he saw the popstar ‘causing a disturbance’ in the moments before his death, and at one point appeared to have ‘passed out’ in the lobby.

‘There was an incident where he was very frustrated and was smashing his laptop in the lobby,’ Watson told ITV.

‘And then the final time he came back down, he actually passed out in the lobby of the hotel, started, looked like [he was] convulsing a little bit and had to be physically taken back up to his room.’

He said this was five minutes before Payne fell from his hotel room balcony three floors to his death, which Watson witnessed.

‘I was in my hotel room, two floors below and directly below and saw the body fall through, looking out the window, saw the body fall and obviously heard the aftermath and could see his body on the ground afterwards,’ he recalled.

He continued: ‘It didn’t seem real. You almost had to pinch yourself to understand and process what you were seeing, but it just was an out-of-body experience, surreal.’

Payne’s alleged behaviour on the day of his death caused concern among hotel staff and the Casa Sur Palermo Hotel desk manager called emergency services to request assistance.

The Telegraph reported that just seven minutes later, at 5.11pm local time (9.11pm UK time), after Police and SAME (Medical Emergency Attention Service) arrived, Payne was pronounced dead.

Tributes have poured in following Payne’s tragic death, with The X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne, presenter Dermot O’Leary, pop superstar Ed Sheeran, and football star David Beckham all sharing their condolences.

The X Factor judge Simon Cowell has ‘stepped away’ from the current series of Britain’s Got Talent following Payne’s death, after filming was cancelled this week.

His family released a ‘heartbroken’ statement on social media, writing: ‘We are heartbroken. Liam will forever live in our hearts and we’ll remember him for his kind, funny and brave soul.

‘We are supporting each other the best we can as a family and ask for privacy and space at this awful time.’

His former One Direction bandmates also released an emotional statement saying they were ‘devastated’ by Payne’s passing.

Autopsy results and the ongoing investigation

Medics have said that Payne ‘did not adopt a reflex posture’ as he fell, which could suggest he was unconscious or semi-unconscious at the time of his death.

Alberto Crescenti, a director of emergency medical response service SAME, previously stated that the injuries Liam sustained in the fall included a broken skull.

He went on to describe those injuries as ‘incompatible with life’ and referred specifically to the head wound, saying: ‘According to the emergency medical team sent to the scene he had a fracture in the base of his skull, extremely serious injuries.’

Investigators have questioned two women who were in Payne’s hotel room just hours before he died.

Officials have taken statements from two women and three hotel workers, according to Page Six who obtained access to a statement from the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office in Argentina.

The prosecutor’s office told how two women ‘had been with the musician in his room’ at the Buenos Aires hotel, CasaSur Palermo, in the ‘hours prior’ to his death ‘but had already left the hotel when the incident occurred.’

Their investigation is ‘aimed at determining the possible intervention of third parties in the events prior to the death of the victim,’ and the statement stressed that ‘everything indicates that the musician was alone when the fall occurred, and was going through some kind of outbreak due to substance abuse.’

The prosecutor’s office has confirmed that forensic reports showed no injuries were observed that suggested any third-party involvement.

Police have also confirmed they seized several substances from the hotel room ‘indicating previous situation of alcohol and drug consumption,’ with a search of the room revealing ‘what appeared to be narcotics, alcohol, destroyed objects and furniture.’

Photos have been published by Argentinian media showing a table covered with tin foil, white powder, a lighter and scorch marks, that claim to be from the star’s room.

A hotel guest told the BBC that he’d heard ‘violent noises,’ a few hours before Payne’s death.

‘I thought they were working on the room,’ said Doug Jones. ‘There was a lot of noise, like heavy lifting, like banging, a lot of loud, violent noises, I thought.

‘And I saw hotel people going in and out of that room, so I thought they were doing work on the room. So about 4pm, 430pm, I started hearing some more noise, I was still doing work, and I heard a really loud, violent scream around 4.45pm, 5pm.’

A call was made at 5.04pm local time (9.04pm UK time) and heard the manager say: ‘We need to send someone with urgency because I don’t know if the guest’s life is in danger because he is in a room with balcony, and we are afraid he could do something that threatens life.’

The 911 call details the manager’s concerns that the star was ‘breaking everything in the room.’

They told law enforcement: ‘We have a guest drunk with drugs and alcohol. When he [them, gender not clear in conversation] is conscious, he is breaking everything in the room.’

Payne’s final text messages and the last person he spoke to

A woman who claims to have been one of the last people who saw Payne alive shared his final words to her, alleging he told her ‘I used to be in a boy band…that’s why I’m so f****d up’ (per The Daily Mail).

She alleges the strange comment came after he was ‘bashing [his] computer on the ground’ after he had ‘opened his emails and saw one which obviously upset him.’

The final texts Payne exchanged with friend Jodie Richards, who taught Liam at her performing arts company Pink Productions, revealed that ‘nothing seemed out of the ordinary.’

She told Sky News: ‘I’m really close to Liam, we’ve been friends for years and he was away yesterday in Argentina and I think he just wanted to touch base and check I was okay, see how everyone was back at home.

‘We speak near enough every day and have done for years. Obviously he’s always been there at times I’ve needed him even though he’s not local.’

Payne told Richards on Wednesday that he was ‘chilling’ in Argentina, with Richards revealing that she didn’t have any concerns about him at the time.

She shared: ‘He was looking forward to his day, he said he was having a chill, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

‘He’s always somewhere more glamorous than we are so Los Angeles, Argentina, I have to look at the time difference to see where he is, he usually texts me and it’s the middle of our night.

‘He seemed fine, he looked happy, he looked healthy – no reason for any kind of concern and then obviously I heard it on the news.”

Richards was initially in a state of disbelief after hearing the news of Payne’s passing.

She said: ‘I thought it was fake news, I tried to phone him. Obviously he wasn’t answering. I tried to text him, it wasn’t going to a ‘read’ message – normally it does quite quickly, then as I turned the telly on it was getting more and more apparent it wasn’t fake.’

Music label woes and legal issues

His tragic passing comes as Payne was allegedly dropped by his record label Universal Music, a source told The Daily Mail.

‘Liam’s advance was massive and he didn’t recoup [it],’ the insider claimed. ‘Out of all of the One Direction boys, Liam was on the wrong path musically.’

A separate source said: ‘It is like all of Liam’s music career that he had built up since he went solo eight years ago was crumbling, there was very little left for him. It must have absolutely devastated him.’

Payne had also been dealing with some legal difficulties in the days leading up to his death after his ex-fiancee Maya Henryissued a cease and desist and made accusations that he had been ceaselessly contacting her, using different iCloud accounts to continue to reach out.

Henry is yet to address Payne’s death publicly, but a source has said she is ‘understandably in shock.’

Family and One Direction tributes

Payne is survived by his seven-year-old son, Bear, who he shares with his ex-girlfriend Cheryl.

The Girls Aloud star, who dated Payne from 2016 to 2018, is also yet to speak publicly about his passing.

His family includes his mother Karen, and father, Geoff, as well as his two older sisters, Nicola and Ruth.

They released a ‘heartbreaking’ statement following his death, asking for ‘privacy and space at this awful time.’

Payne’s One Direction bandmates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson broke their silence yesterday in an emotional tribute as well as touching individual posts on their social media pages.

‘We’re completely devastated by the news of Liam’s passing,’ the statement began.

‘In time, and when everyone is able to, there will be more to say. But for now, we will take some time to grieve and process the loss of our brother, who we loved dearly.

‘The memories we shared with him will be treasured forever. For now, our thoughts are with his family, his friends, and the fans who loved him alongside us.

‘We will miss him terribly. We love you Liam.’

Social media activity in Buenos Aires

The singer was reportedly in Buenos Aires alongside his girlfriend Kate Cassidy to see his former bandmate Horan perform at the Movistar Arena.

Payne joked with fans before the show that he was reuniting with his former bandmate as he hadn’t seen him in a while and wanted to ‘square up a couple of things’.

After the concert, he wrote on social media: ‘So happy I got to see Niall in concert’, and shared a photo of the two smiling together.

Social media posts before his death showed the singer and social media influencer Cassidy, whom he began dating on and off since 2022, soaking up the sun in Buenos Aires.

In one video that Payne shared, he joked with the TikToker that she shouldn’t leave her hat on a table and told fans they had been getting up at 1pm every day.

In a picture of himself sitting in a chair, he also told fans that he had decided his Halloween costume would be Forrest Gump.

He also shared a scenic image of an outdoor lounge area and green grass with the caption: ‘Happy I got some time away’.

Simon Cowell ‘steps away’ from Britain’s Got Talent

The X Factor judge Simon Cowell has ‘stepped away’ from filming the current series of Britain’s Got Talent following Payne’s death.

The judge will be replaced by Bruno Tonioli when filming resumes on Saturday, it is claimed.

Cowell, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon alongside guest judge KSI, who was hired as a temporary replacement for Tonioli, will also continue filming for the ITV series.

The decision comes as Cowell, 65, is naturally ‘utterly shocked and devastated’. He has been hit ‘incredibly hard’ by the news, a source told The Sun.

The X Factor paid tribute to Payne in a statement shared on social media, which read: ‘We are heartbroken by the sad passing of Liam Payne.

‘He was immensely talented and, as part of One Direction, Liam will leave a lasting legacy on the music industry and fans around the world.

‘Our thoughts are with his friends, family and all who loved him.’

Metro.co.uk contacted representatives for Casa Sur Palermo Hotel for comment.