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11/07/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 11/08/2024 10:05

Liam Payne’s Death Raises Questions about Teenage Stardom

Liam Payne's Death Raises Questions about Teenage Stardom

After the One Direction mega star died, Boston University faculty and alums discuss responsible care for current and former child stars

Fans mourn the death of One Direction star Liam Payne at a memorial in Germany. Payne, 31, died after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photo via AP/Ying Tang/NurPhoto

Child Stars

Liam Payne's Death Raises Questions about Teenage Stardom

After the One Direction mega star died, Boston University faculty and alums discuss responsible care for current and former child stars

November 7, 2024
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When the police arrived at Casa Sur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at 5 pm on October 16, they didn't know they were responding to a call about Liam Payne of One Direction fame. Officers were reportedly dispatched to the hotel for a guest who was "overwhelmed by drugs and alcohol" and "destroying his room." It was only when they arrived that they found the body of the 31-year-old pop star, who'd jumped from the balcony only moments earlier.

Payne's life changed, for better, and some are now saying, for worse, in 2010, when he and his One Direction bandmates reached astronomical fame through their turn on The X Factor UK. They would go on to become one of the highest selling boy bands of all time. At the time Payne was only 16. In the years since the band's 2016 breakup, Payne had been outspoken about his struggle with alcohol and drugs, In a story for Men's Health Australia, the British singer told the magazine: "…[E]ven if you're not happy, you've got to go out there. It's almost like putting the Disney costume on before you step up on stage and underneath the Disney costume I was [drunk] quite a lot of the time because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on." In 2023, he admitted that he'd spent 100 days in rehab.

It's a familiar story by now: former teenage star buckles under pressures of stardom, or industry abuse, or a long-term proximity to the more dangerous, and darker, forces that most people never see. Is it merely the price of doing business in the entertainment industry? A growing army of voices, including experts in cognitive and emotional development and many former child stars, don't think so.

"I was not equipped to handle the entertainment industry and all of its competitiveness, rejection, stakes, harsh realities, fame," writes former Nickelodeon child star Jeanette McCurdy in her bestselling memoir I'm Glad My Mom Died. "I needed that time…to develop as a child. To form my identity. To grow. I can never get those years back."

Experts agree with McCurdy, saying that cognitive and emotional development is at stake when children and adolescents are met with the public scrutiny, lack of supervision, pressure, and potential for abuse that accompany stardom-some of which could cause even the most seasoned adults to crack.

"Growing up in a stable and safe community with strong, positive, and stable relationships with significant adults are crucial factors in supporting cognitive development for young people," says Maria Teresa Coutinho, a clinical associate professor at Boston University's Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. "Children working as child stars may be exposed to conditions that can negatively impact their mental health-for example, expectations regarding performance, repeated experiences of rejection, and schedules that limit the opportunity to engage with other peers and primary caregivers."

A simple increase in stress can have drastic long-term effects if the stress is constant. According to Coutinho, a prolonged increase in the stress hormone cortisol can affect mood stability, problem-solving, and aggression in the growing brain-and can also lead to lifelong struggles with substance misuse.

"In the short-term, substances such as alcohol, marijuana, and opioids can help to quiet some of the worries and stressors young people may experience," Coutinho says. "However, our brains are still developing until our 20s, and that means that these substances are negatively impacting their still-growing brains in ways that are difficult to reverse and that we are still trying to understand."

The boys from One Direction have been in the limelight for nearly 15 years, first coming to public attention in 2010, as preteen contestants on The X Factor. Photo via AP/Anna Gowthorpe/PA Wire

Nina Tassler (CFA'79, Hon.'16), a media and entertainment executive, producer, author, and former chair of CBS Entertainment and a Boston University trustee, says the biggest factor in the health of a young star is having strong support from their family. Before joining CBS in 1997, Tassler worked as a talent agent in Los Angeles. Agents, she says, can open doors for young talent that can be daunting and unfamiliar-which is why primary caregivers should see themselves as stabilizing forces

"Family members are a key part of a minor's health and safety," Tassler says. "Actively engaging with the designated family member or guardian is key-not excluding the talent, but making sure to maintain open lines of communication."

Though sometimes, the situation can play out in the reverse, she notes, and the person closest to the child star does more harm than good. "Sometimes family members or guardians become enamored with the lure of fame and fortune," she says, "prompting them to overlook the best interest of the child actor, and agents can offer extra scrutiny in those cases,"

According to Tassler, stars like Payne, who become megafamous almost overnight, which was too fast for One Direction to have built a strong support network (think Justin Bieber getting famous on YouTube), present an even greater case for parental care and guardianship.

"We live and work in interesting times," she says. "Young talent has so many channels available to self-promote and submit their work to prospective employers-they can work outside the traditional guidelines, which puts them at risk."

Those traditional guidelines are there for a reason, says Larry Weinberg (COM'86), a College of Communication lecturer in the BU Los Angeles Program. They make the industry liable for any harm that comes to a young star. If they are removed-if the young star is performing primarily on social media, if they have found a loophole in their state's child labor laws, if they reach 18 and are no longer categorically protected-their legal protections disappear along with them.

Weinberg, an entertainment-industry lawyer for more than 20 years, says that "producers and studios, networks, and streamers are held highly responsible. On each of our projects, we have very strict contractual notices and restrictions when working with children. I often counsel parents on how to protect their children when engaged on films, programs, commercials, and modeling shoots."

But, he adds, "Unfortunately, there are so many cases of abuse and psychological trauma that for every Hillary Duff or Jodi Foster who turns out well, there are exponentially more who have suffered lasting issues."

Weinberg agrees with Tassler, though: much of the responsibility for whether a child will thrive or suffer has less to do with whether a TV shoot follows every regulation to the letter and more to do with parental attitudes about supervision and overwork.

"It is ultimately the parents' greatest responsibility to protect their children," he says. "I've worked with teenagers who were deemed 'emancipated' and could work as adults not covered by child labor laws. Those parents are, in my opinion, not doing their children any good."

According to a post made by Payne's girlfriend, Kate Cassidy (right), the couple had plans to marry in the next year. Photo via AP/Victor Aubry/Sipa

Parents of child stars can help their children in more fundamental ways, says Karin Hendricks, a College of Fine Arts associate professor and School of Music associate director, by making sure their children's artistic instruction is humane. Hendricks' work reconsiders the accepted model of music education-which can be a grueling and unforgiving practice. Young performers, and especially young musicians like Payne, are taught to "prioritize a culture of perfectionism or competitiveness over joy and expression," she says, which becomes potentially lethal when "students are taught to conflate their performances with their personal identity, so they are unable to separate the ups and downs of a musical career with their self-worth as a human."

Hendricks, BU's 2023 Metcalf Cup and Prize winner, grounds her research in the premise that music teachers "do not have to choose between kindness and quality." Her model of Compassionate Music Teaching involves "using practices of trust, empathy, patience, inclusion, and community," deemed the Six Qualities of Compassion, "to foster authentic connections, within ourselves and with one another, through music."

If a parent chooses to allow their child to practice their art-be it music, acting, or something else-in a compassionate environment, Hendricks believes it will create a healthier person. She imagines that a student of compassionate music education will be able to replace feelings of isolation and self-loathing with "honesty, openness, curiosity, and a willingness to keep learning.

"Music education is just one space where adults can support and guide future leaders and performers," she says.

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  • Sophie Yarin

    Associate Editor, BU Today; Managing Editor Bostonia

    Sophie Yarin is a BU Today associate editor and Bostonia managing editor. She graduated from Emerson College's journalism program and has experience in digital and print publications as a hybrid writer/editor. A lifelong fan of local art and music, she's constantly on the hunt for stories that shine light on Boston's unique creative communities. She lives in Jamaica Plain with her partner and their cats, Ringo and Xerxes, but she's usually out getting iced coffee. Profile

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