Roger Nores took part in a TMZ documentary just days before he was allegedly charged over Liam Payne’s death and furiously denied abandoning the One Direction star
Liam Payne’s friend Roger Nores has always denied abandoning the One Direction star ever since he was hit with the claims in November 2024, during which he issued a bombshell statement.
He had reportedly initially dismissed claims police had raided his home in Buenos Aires and insisted he was not a suspect in the investigation. Liam tragically died at 31 after after falling from a third-floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel in October.
Nores told reporters last month: “I never abandoned Liam, I went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened.” He later added: “There were over 15 people at the hotel lobby chatting and joking with him when I left. I could have never imagined something like this would happen… I’m really heart-broken with this tragedy, and I’ve been missing my friend every day.”
Businessman Nores, who is from Argentina, formed a friendship with Liam in 2020 after they met at an event hosted by Vogue in London. They had spent time together on the day Liam died and Nores is one of the five allegedly charged with manslaughter.
And just days before he was reportedly charged, the businessman appeared in a TMZ documentary to shed some light on the day Liam died.
Taking part in documentary TMZ Investigates: Liam Payne: Who’s to Blame? days prior to the alleged charges, Nores insisted he had nothing to do with the late singer’s death. He also made a series of claims about Liam that have gone against previous reports.
Nores has claimed Liam was “in good spirits” on the day of his death and was “perfectly balanced”. The claim followed on from wide reports suggesting Liam had been in a frenzied state just hours before. It has been reported Liam was drunk and disorderly soon before he fell from his hotel balcony – and one hotel employee called emergency services before the star’s death.
In the documentary, Nores said this was an incorrect depiction of the singer. “I’m a very good friend of Liam, and I was with him the day that he passed away. He was in in good spirits. He was like talking to 10 or 15 Americans that were here for a wedding. And so he was talking to them, and he was joking around.”
He also claimed there was “nothing out of the ordinary” when it came to Liam’s behaviour on that day after visiting him three times. Nores said what would be his last goodbye to Liam in the afternoon. In the documentary he said: “I left like at 4:05, or so, and he was in good spirits.
“He was perfectly balanced, talking to everybody, having fun, laughing, so nothing out of the ordinary. So that’s when I said, ‘bye’. He seemed playful and happy. I went to the hotel three times to check on him. He seemed tipsy but nothing out of the ordinary and that’s when I said, ‘Okay, bye’.”
TMZ’s Harvey Levin then asked: “So you left him about an hour before he fell off that balcony. And you say, he seemed fine?” To which Nores stated: “Yeah, well, he seemed he seemed playful and happy.”
He also went on to hit back again at claims he abandoned Liam. Nores said: “I went to a hotel three times to check on him. During that morning, he seemed tipsy, but nothing out of the ordinary.”
A toxicology report shed light on the singer’s final moments, with experts sharing a devastating find about his horror fall. On November 7, a report from the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office determined that traces of “alcohol, cocaine and prescription antidepressants” had been found in Liam’s system.
Officials also ruled out suicide, explaining that “in the state he was in, he did not know what he was doing and could not understand it”. Liam suffered “catastrophic injuries incompatible with life” from the fall. According to the report, Liam “did not adopt a reflexive posture to protect himself in the fall, so that, for the moment, it can be inferred that he may have fallen in a state of semi- or total unconsciousness.”
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