Liam Payne and Harry Styles' friendship timeline explored extending beyond One Direction days

Liam Payne, the former member of the boy band, One Direction, passed away in Argentina earlier today. As per BBC, Payne was staying in a hotel in Bueno Aires when he fell from the balcony of his hotel room. After the 31-year-old lost his life, Anne Twist, Harry Styles' mother, was one of the first people to pay tribute to the singer.

Twist posted a black color background with a broken heart emoticon on her Instagram handle, writing only three words in its caption: "Just a boy..."

Harry and Payne first met on the sets of The X Factor in 2010. They became members of One Direction soon after the show ended and have been friends ever since, even after the band split in 2016.

In the light of Liam Payne's death, here's a look at the timeline of his friendship with former band member Harry Styles.

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Timeline of Harry Styles and Liam Payne's friendship explored

April 2013: Liam Payne playfully pulled Harry Styles' pants down on stage

On April 7, 2013, One Direction performed in London's O2 Arena. As they started singing their hit track, What Makes You Beautiful, Payne pulled down Styles's trousers on stage, leaving the Watermelon Sugar singer red-faced mid-performance.

While the crowd went crazy at being flashed Styles's underwear, a playful camaraderie was established between the duo.

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October 2017: Liam Payne revealed bumping into Styles in New York

On October 20, 2017, in an exclusive interview with The Sun UK, Liam Payne spoke about bumping into Styles recently in New York. The singer said:

"I bumped into him in The Bowery Hotel. He’s been through a rough time recently. God bless him, he was really happy to see me. The funniest thing was we didn’t really talk business. Dunkirk was out and all this was happening, and we just gave each other a big hug."

Payne continued:

“We didn’t say much but you could tell we were really happy to see each other. It was like touching home base."

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December 2019: Both Payne and Styles performed at the Jingle Bell Ball

In Capital FM's 2019 Jingle Bell Ball, Liam Payne and Harry Styles were invited as performers. While Payne's set was scheduled hours before that of the As It Was singer, he waited after completing his set to watch his friend perform live.

The two also caught up backstage following their performances. Payne said on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen later that same month:

"We spoke about a number of things... It was good to see him, he was pretty much the same boy that I left him."

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June 2022: Liam Payne confessed Harry had a sixth sense about him being in trouble

In June 2022, Liam Payne was in an Instagram live session, where the subject of Harry Styles came up, leading to the former talk about their recent phone call. Payne said:

"He called me because he has a sixth sense for if I’m struggling or if one of us is in trouble, I feel like it."

He continued:

"I spoke to him, and it was a really lovely catch up actually. And I’ve got a lot of love for the man. He’s great, he’s really, really great."

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February 2023: Payne congratulated Styles on his first Grammy win

When Harry Styles won his first Grammy in February 2023, Payne was among the first to congratulate him. The latter posted a black-and-white picture of Styles accepting the award on his Instagram handle, writing next to it:

“Wow… this image is really something to wake up to and when you write music like you do Harry you deserve every millisecond of that moment looking down smiling at the trophy you’ve earned... God bless you brother congratulations."

Styles won the Best Pop Vocal Album of the Year award for his third studio album, Harry's House.

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As per The New York Post, Payne was in Argentina to attend his former bandmate Niall Horan's concert in Buenos Aries.