Liam Payne’s furious mum ‘hit him around the ear’ over raunchy underwear shoot with model Stella Maxwell
AS a member of the world’s biggest boyband, Liam Payne was never going to be short of female attention – but not all the women in his life have been impressed by him flaunting his athletic physique.
The former One Direction singer stripped to his pants last year for a striking Hugo Boss campaign with stunning Victoria’s Secret “angel” Stella Maxwell.
His incredible transformation became the envy of his mates — but the sight of his rippling chest blown up 20ft tall across billboards proved too much for his horrified mum Karen, who Liam reveals gave him “a clip around the ear” when she first saw the raunchy snaps.
In an exclusive interview to mark the launch of his new single Midnight with Alesso, Liam explains: “Quite a few mates said they had to spin their cars around to try and get pictures of me across a bus — but it was my mum’s reaction I remember best.
“She saw the shots just before they came out and obviously there’s some very raunchy ones of me and Stella — so I tried to show my dad first to soften the blow.
“I was at The O2 because I was about to go on and support Rita Ora, we were going to perform our song For You together.
“I was backstage and tried to show him quickly on my phone while Mum went to the loo, but she came back and saw what I was showing him.
“She was like, ‘What’s that?’ and saw Stella draped across me in this picture and then she hit me around the earhole.
“It took me right back to my childhood straight away.”
But rather than be impressed by his stunning new companion, Liam insists his male pals were more interested in how he transformed himself into a rippling hunk in just a few weeks — a process he admits was “no fun at all”.
He explains: “My mates were joking about me bringing out a workout DVD.
“I wouldn’t rule out doing another campaign but I wouldn’t want to repeat that diet.
“I had to eat five meals a day, and drink 1,200-calorie protein shakes almost every hour — to pile on loads of weight.
“Then you have to train hard every day. I call it fish month because white fish was the only thing I was allowed to eat for four weeks. But it works!”
After returning to his normal figure, Liam explains that the gruelling fitness regime proved too much of a distraction from his music career for him to keep it up — joking it’s easier to be creative as “a slob”.
He explains: “It was difficult to separate that lifestyle from everything else. When you’re in creative mode, you want to create, you want to be a bit of a slob and be in this chill zone. But that was so militant — I was counting calories and thinking about food and diet all the time. Now my life is balanced.”
With the bars shut and holidays off the table for now, perhaps it’s time for another “fish month” just around the corner.
But given he’s been seen out with a new model girlfriend, perhaps he doesn’t need to bother.
Hit just doesn’t matter
THE boys have high hopes for their new collaboration but insist that the industry has changed to become unpredictable – but much nicer – in recent years.
Alesso said: “You can have a big song and then you can have a not-so-big song – it just moves so quickly these days.
“A flop doesn’t really matter that much any more, it’s true. I see big songs and songs that no one really talks about and then another one comes and it’s a hit.
“The music industry has changed so much but I think it’s also positive in a way because there was a constant pressure to deliver the biggest songs, but then maybe some songs are just for passion. But I think the way I’ve been thinking about it is to not stress too much about it and go for what you love.”
Liam, who released his debut album LP1 last year, insisted he isn’t making music just for the sales but because it brings him so much joy.
He said: “Some things work, some things don’t, and I think the important thing is that we all keep making stuff and doing what makes us happy.
“I think that’s part of the reason I’m doing it still.”
Liam may have to use his extra spare time in lockdown to practise singing their track Midnight though, after admitting it will be a challenge to pull off when he performs live again.
He told me: “It’s got such an anthemic chorus, it’s a real hard worker to sing actually.”
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THE duo are creating a fan remix of Midnight, featuring other people singing alongside Liam on a new version of the track. Alesso invited fans to post videos of them singing the tune with the hashtag #AlessoMidnight.
Virus wrecks flash vid bid
DESPITE months of careful planning, the duo’s plans for a big- budget flash video were quickly derailed by the global lockdown – forcing them to improvise with a home-made effort shot on both sides of the Atlantic.
Refusing to delay the release, Liam explained: “I’m proud of both of us. It’s nice the way the music video came together and it’s very organic in the sense we’re both doing our jobs.
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“Alesso is at the desk making beautiful music and I’m over here singing on balconies. That’s what I do these days.”
Alesso adds: “When it came to this music video, of course we had this really cool music video planned.
“But obviously it had to be pushed back so I was like, ‘What can we do that’s completely the opposite? That’s more organic, that’s more real?’
“The video’s exactly how we made it happen it. Liam in London, I’m in LA. We showed how we were able to make music online and we created this video – which hopefully will make the song shine more.”
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LIAM’s tip for surviving lockdown is doing something daily to make yourself feel proud. He said: “I need small victories. I need to write a chorus or do a painting. I need something to make me feel like I did something.”LIAM’s tip for surviving lockdown is doing something daily to make yourself feel proud. He said: “I need small victories. I need to write a chorus or do a painting. I need something to make me feel like I did something.”
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