Maya Henry's Explosive Book Sheds New Light on Liam Payne's 'Intimate Encounter' With Male Star
Maya Henry, the ex-fiancée of late singer Liam Payne, is sparking waves throughout the entertainment industry with a new telling novel of her life titled "Looking Forward."
The book captures the essence of their real life together — a particularly turbulent time in their famously chaotic relationship — in a fictionalized way.
Henry's novel traces the lives of British singer Oliver Smith, a boyband veteran, and American model Mallory Hunt.
Although the characters are fictional, the plot directly parallels Henry's experiences with Payne, who died in October 2024 after plunging from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.
Out of all the things that may raise a few eyebrows in the book, Payne reportedly went to bed with an Argentine waiter, Brian Paiz.
In a conversation on Argentinian television, Paiz stated, as quoted by The Mirror: "We spent the night together, we consumed drugs because the truth is that something intimate happened."
However, Paiz later took to Instagram to clarify that he never claimed to have slept with Payne.
DailyMail, in its latest report, revealed some of the most explosive scenes from the novel.
In the case of Smith, scenes in the novel seem to correlate with these allegations as Smith ends up being in compromising positions and situations that reflect what was publicly asserted about Payne.
An excerpt of the book, as per DailyMail, reads:
'I notice the TV screen. It's on, but it's not playing a movie or show. I step closer and understand. Oliver's mirrored his phone to it.
'This idiot is so messed up that he forgot his phone was mirrored to the TV.
'Then I move in closer and start to read. These aren't just texts, they are sexts. His gross sexts right there in their crystal-clear, 4K plasma glory.
'Oh my God. Not again. They are explicit. I am shocked. At a loss for words. So shocked that I run to the trash to throw up.'
While the book is based on her personal diary, Henry has stayed afraid to disclose names and other information for secrecy reasons.
Henry told Rolling Stone in a statement that the link to her novel's real-life source was deep.
She said: "What I went through in real life is very similar to what Mallory went through in the book."
The novel's memoir-like quality has led many to speculate about the parallels between what it contains and the parts of Henry's relationship with Payne that have become public.
Liam Payne Allegedly Struggled With His Sexuality
Other incidents from the novel have been confirmed by recent investigations by Rolling Stone into Payne's life and death.
Among them are accusations of Payne texting other men and inadvertently displaying those texts on a TV screen, a moment that is also framed in Looking Forward.
Henry is not expressing hopes that readers take her revelations of a troubled life in quotation marks; rather, some version of her story, one meant for all who have endured similar trials, is ultimately what Henry truly wants.
"I journaled about my experiences throughout the pandemic," she said, as quoted by Rolling Stone. "Eventually this journal evolved into a novel."
Payne's life and the circumstances in which his tragic end came about have garnered new interest with the release of "Looking Forward."
