Liam Payne’s friend reacts to singer’s death live on TV in heartbreaking moment: My ‘younger brother’

nypost.com:

Liam Payne’s close friend found out about the One Direction star’s tragic death moments before going on live TV.During Thursday’s episode of Australia’s Channel 7 morning show “Sunrise,” British adventurer, Ant Middleton, paid tribute to the singer after finding out that Payne died at 31.“I speak to Liam quite often, he’s a good friend of mine.

And, wow, I’m shocked, this is obviously the first I’m hearing of it,” the 44-year-old said. Middleton, who filmed the 2019 documentary “Ant Middleton & Liam Payne: Straight Talking with Payne,” added of the artist’s death, “I don’t really know what to say about that.

I’m going to have to make sure that I reach out to the relevant people to find out what’s happened to my good friend.”“But I’m away filming at the moment as you can see, that’s why I’m wet and there’s a bit of noise around me,” he continued. “But yeah, my condolences and I hope they find out what’s gone on.”The TV personality said he considered Payne a “younger brother” after he became Middleton’s first celebrity guest on his docuseries.“After we filmed ‘Straight Talking with Ant Middleton,’ we formed a brotherhood,” the filmmaker expressed. “He was like a younger brother to me.

He would confide in me, I’d go ’round and see him.”Taking a moment to touch on Payne’s struggles over the years, Middleton explained, “There were some issues there, but nothing that a young celebrity at his caliber wouldn’t suffer from.