Louis Tomlinson, a former member of One Direction, has revealed some of the first intimate details behind the band’s decision to go on an “extended hiatus” in 2015.
Tomlinson was the focus of a wide-ranging podcast interview, “The Diary Of A CEO” with Steven Bartlett, which screened in select theaters across the United States and the United Kingdom on Wednesday night. In the nearly two-hour long conversation, Tomlinson reflected on his time in the group, and the death of bandmate Liam Payne in 2024.
Nearly a decade later, Tomlinson detailed the conversation that led to One Direction’s split. He denied any third parties being present for the meeting, but said “it almost might as well have been [our] representatives.”
“What’s really fascinating is those real serious moments… we wouldn’t have a lot of them in One Direction,” he said. “I think there’s kind of moments where you have to be selfish. It was an atmosphere that you never really felt in the band, because normally… it’s all this camaraderie. Then all of a sudden, you get someone thinking more independently and more for themselves, which, by the way, they have every right to do. But the room felt cold that day… I’ve never quite felt an energy like that in the room. There was this emptiness.”
Tomlinson described himself as being “naive” at the time, noting he was “adamant on having some kind of indiction” as to how long the hiatus would be.
“I never really got an answer that question — which I understand now, because truthfully, I don’t think the people or person involved was brave enough to answer that question,” he said. “Deep down, I think they probably knew the reality, and that’s why it was tough.”
He also mentioned being “crushed” and “fuming” when former bandmate Zayn Malik left the group and didn’t tell him first, seeing that they were good friends at the time. He admitted its possible Malik didn’t tell him he was leaving because he believed Tomlinson would try to stop him.
Discussing the possibility of the band’s reunion, Tomlinson said “never say never,” but landed in uncertainty due to Payne’s death: “I can’t ever imagine… I’m not sure it would be right to [Payne].”
“For the sake of argument, say in 25 years, and it’s like a fucking Oasis thing… they offer us an arm and a leg and they’re like ‘Come back and do this number of shows.’ I don’t know. And the irony is, there’s no one who would have campaigned more for One Direction to come back than Liam. I’d say I came in close second.”
Payne was 31 years-old when he died in Buenos Aires, Argentina in October 2024. After his death, which Tomlinson mentions he learned through former bandmate Niall Horan, Tomlinson penned a long tribute to his late former bandmate that praised him as “my boy, one of my best friends, my brother.”
He continued: “I could just go on and talk all day about how amazing he was, but I think we all looked up to him. I don’t think we would have been brave enough to say at that age when I was in the band, I think I would’ve had too much pride, but we all looked up to him massively.”
Tomlinson will appear alongside Malik in a new Netflix travel series that promises “reconnection, exploration and a lot of laughter.” Across three episodes, Malik and Tomlinson engage in intimate conversations about life, love, loss and fatherhood.
Watch the complete episode of “The Diary of a CEO” below.
