According to audio obtained by media outlets, the hotel’s head receptionist called authorities shortly before Payne’s fall to say staff needed assistance with “a guest who has had too much drugs and alcohol.”
“He is in a room with a balcony and we’re a little afraid that he might do something that would put his life at risk,” the receptionist told the emergency call operator.
Payne rose to fame as a member of One Direction, the massively successful boy band launched on the British competition series The X Factor in 2010. The group ultimately became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time.
After One Direction’s final performance in 2015, each of the five members went on to release at least one solo album. Payne’s most successful single was his 2017 hit “Strip That Down.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
