After Liam Payne auditioned for The X Factor, he and four other young men were turned into one of music's most memorable boy bands, One Direction. After One Direction made every member very rich, the group broke up. That allowed the One Direction members to do many fascinating things, including some of them becoming friends for the first time.

Once Liam was a solo star, that resulted in there being more interest in who he is and his personal life. As a result, fans knew about Liam's surprising but relatable phobia before he tragically passed away in October 2024. What a lot of fans may not know, however, is that Liam had mixed feelings over the years about The X Factor.

Why Liam Payne Seemed To Resent The X Factor At Times

As fans already know, Liam Payne was a member of one of the biggest boy bands of all time. and he was a successful solo artist. Due to everything Liam accomplished, he was interviewed many times about his life and career.

As a result, some fascinating facts about Liam's life have been revealed. One fascinating fact about Liam's past is there was a time that he was haunted by The X Factor.

During an interview, Liam revealed the dark side of competing on a reality competition show and failing. Based on the stunning story Liam shared during a podcast interview, it seems clear that at least there was a time when he resented The X Factor.

One of the most famous stories in reality show history is the formation of One Direction. It was a fascinating incident in which a group of five young men who were solo performers were put together as a group during the filming of a reality show. Of course, One Direction then went on to become a sensation and one of the biggest boy bands in history.

What some people don't realize, however, was that when Liam auditioned for The X Factor and became part of One Direction, that wasn't his first foray on the show. Instead, Liam auditioned for The X Factor two years earlier. During that earlier season, Liam was cut from the show, brought back, and then cut a second time.

After Liam's first season of The X Factor resulted in him being eliminated from the competition twice, it is easy to see how painful that could have been. However, fans don't have to assume that was painful for Liam as he once confirmed that.

According to a Radio Times article looking back at Liam Payne's life, his first The X Factor audition took place in 2008, when the singer was 14 years old.

As an April 2020 Yahoo! News article reveals, Liam appeared on Jordan Stephens' podcast "Killing It" at that time. During the resulting conversation, Liam revealed that he was ridiculed after he was eliminated from The X Factor, and he told a story about one vivid incident.

"People would ridicule me in the street and all sorts when I was, like, 15 or 16. I once went in McDonald's when I was turning 16 and I went up to order my thing, went to sit down with the girl I was with at the time and a group of lads at the top of the stairs were like, 'X Factor reject!' Then the whole restaurant was looking at me."

Considering how vulnerable most teenagers are, it is easy to imagine how a moment like that could have deeply affected Liam.

During the podcast appearance, Liam went on to explain that the incident in the McDonald's made him realize something.

In addition to being a talented singer, Liam Payne was also an incredible athlete. According to a July 2024 Yahoo! Entertainment article, Liam trained hard to be a runner and would often wake up at 5 AM to run five miles in an attempt to become even better. However, once Liam barely fell short of qualifying to join an England national schools team, Liam decided to focus on singing.

After being openly taunted, Liam came to a sad epiphany.

It was a really hollow moment, that was like, 'Oh right, now I know what it's like to lose fame.'

While Liam didn't explicitly state it, those comments make it appear totally clear that he was very down on his The X Factor experience during that McDonald's experience.

If those remarks weren't clear enough, however, Liam also talked about the state of his singing career around the time of the McDonald's experience.

In October 2024, People published an article about who Liam Payne's parents are. According to the outlet, Liam's parents are Karen Payne and Geoff Payne. The outlet also revealed that Liam had two big sisters, Nicola Payne and Ruth Payne.

As Liam explained, he and the people in his life realized things were going very poorly after his first The X Factor appearance.

"From the age of 14 I'd been living a semi-famous lifestyle. Just at that moment I didn't have any of the things that came with it for those two years. I went through two years of doing gigs and things by myself. Then after two years of doing that, people around realise that you haven't got anywhere with your life."

Unfortunately for Liam, he revealed to the podcast host that the state of his career after his first The X Factor experience weighed on him and the people around him.

It became very sordid and very angry.

Considering how Liam explained what he went through between The X Factor experiences, it is hard to imagine how he could have been happy with the show at the time.

Liam Payne Grew To Be Very Appreciative Of The X Factor

Fortunately for Liam Payne and his legions of devoted fans, his second The X Factor experience led to him becoming a superstar. With that in mind, it seems obvious that Liam grew to have very different feelings about The X Factor after that.

In the years after he became a superstar, Liam repeatedly looked back to express appreciation for his second The X Factor experience, which took place in 2010. For example, a 2017 J-14 article reported on tweets that Liam posted expressing how thankful he was for what The X Factor did for him.

One of those posts included Liam writing about how The X Factor led to a level of success that he never thought possible.

"7 years ago today my life changed forever, beyond my wildest dreams, I'd like to thank everyone who has helped me along the way."

Three years later, Liam again posted on social media to celebrate the anniversary of his second The X Factor audition. In 2020, Liam celebrated the anniversary and the state of his career at the time in a Facebook post.

"It’s been 10 years today since my X factor audition... and I just read that my first album just hit over 2 billion streams... that scared young man didn’t think that was gunna happen. Seriously thank you everyone who’s made this decade of my life possible and to everyone who’s listening thank you for enjoying my music and my bands too."

Considering that Liam repeatedly celebrated the anniversary of big moments from his second The X Factor experience, he clearly came to appreciate the show.