Liam Payne and Maya Henry. David Fisher/Shutterstock
PDA problems. Former One Direction star Liam Payne is getting cozy with a lady — it just isn’t fiancée Maya Henry.
Photos surfaced on Sunday, May 22, of an alleged Payne 28, snuggling up to a woman who Page Six has reported is Aliana Mawla. In the pics, the One Direction star can seemingly be seen embracing a woman from behind, along with a second black-and-white snapshot of the pair holding hands.
While Payne’s rep tells Us Weekly that the X-Factor alum and fiancée Henry, 22, “have split up” with a source confirming the former couple had called it quits “over a month ago,” the model couldn’t help but react after seeing the pictures leak online.
“I love all of the fans so much but please stop sending me these pictures of my fiancé wrapped around another woman,” Henry commented after being tagged by fans who had reposted the Mawla’s Instagram Story. “This is not me and it’s hard enough knowing this has happened without seeing it. Enough now.”
This isn’t the first time the “For You” singer and Henry have called it quits. The couple, who got engaged in August 2020, briefly split in June 2021.
“I am indeed [single],” the England native, who shares 4-year-old son Bear with ex-girlfriend Cheryl Cole, said during an episode of “The Diary of a CEO” podcast at the time. “I feel like more than anything at this point, I’m more disappointed in myself that I keep on hurting people. That annoys me. I’ve just not been very good at relationships.”
Payne added that he had a “pattern” when it comes to dating.
“I’m just not very good at them so I just need to work on myself before I put myself on to somebody else,” the “What Makes You Beautiful” singer explained. “I feel like that’s where I got to in my last relationship. I just wasn’t giving a very good version of me anymore, that I didn’t appreciate and I didn’t like being.”
While he said he wasn’t happy to end things, he knew it “had to happen” and that it was for the “best for both of us.”
However, the pop star and Texas native found their way back to each other a month later, making their red carpet debut as a couple in October 2021 at the BFI London Film Festival. While Henry wasn’t wearing her engagement ring at the time, the couple packed on heavy PDA as they posed for the cameras.
The former couple was first spotted together in summer 2018 and went Instagram official the following year. “Sometimes I don’t recognize this happy guy … sure glad you brought him back though,” he captioned a pic of himself and Henry in September 2019. “Thank you] for always keeping the biggest smile on my face through all the stress and making me realize how perfect my life really is.”
