Lamar Odom recalls having auditory hallucinations when taking the drugs found in Liam Payne’s system — speculating that the substances could have contributed to the late One Direction member’s fatal fall.
“I’ve heard voices before,” the retired NBA star, who nearly died after a drug binge in a Las Vegas brothel in 2015, told TMZ Monday.
The recovering drug addict was asked about his experience with crack and “pink cocaine,” a recreational drug that typically mixes methamphetamine, ketamine, ecstasy and others, as both were found in Payne’s system following a partial toxicology report.
Odom told the outlet that with crack, in particular, he felt paranoid, which could “really drive you up a wall.”
“If you’re hearing voices, then it’s hard to escape those voices,” the ex Los Angeles Lakers player added. “So God forbid if those voices told him to do something that led to his fate, that would be real shame.”
Payne’s toxicology report, which was released Monday, showed that aside from pink cocaine and crack, he also had benzodiazepine, which is a type of depressant, in his system at the time of his death.
Photos from his trashed hotel room previously showed the “Night Changes” singer also had in his possession clonazepam, which is used to control epilepsy, involuntary muscle spasms or panic disorder.
Several eyewitnesses at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, where Payne had been staying as a guest and subsequently fell to his death, reportedly recalled seeing the singer acting erratically.
One fellow guest even recalled seeing the “Strip That Down” singer smashing his laptop in the hotel lobby after receiving an email that seemingly upset him.
In a harrowing 911 call, the hotel’s manager told dispatchers he had a male guest who appeared “high and drunk,” and he feared the troubled individual’s life was in “danger” because his room had a balcony.
Payne’s death is still under investigation. A source told People last week that prosecutors believe the “What Makes You Beautiful” singer likely obtained the drugs from a hotel employee.
However, the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office in Argentina said in a statement earlier this month that they suspect Payne was alone and forensic experts found “no defensive injuries.”
The prosecutor’s office added that the “Story of My Life” singer was likely unconscious when he tragically fell from his third-story balcony given the “position in which the body was left and the injuries from the fall.”
Officials said his cause of death was attributed to the multiple traumas, internal and external bleeding he sustained from his fatal fall.
Odom, who owns three treatment centers, added to TMZ that he is praying for Payne’s family and hopes that the star’s death is a “wake-up call” for “everyone in the industry.”
The former basketball player, 44, concluded, “It could have been fentanyl … like who knows? Who wants to get high? I call it getting low.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.