Liam Payne previously horrified fans with a dangerous balcony stunt — 10 years before his shock death at 31.

The One Direction alum died Wednesday after reportedly falling from a third-floor balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Authorities are investigating the circumstances of his death and will conduct an autopsy.

In wake of the news, a 2014 photo has resurfaced online of Payne standing on a narrow ledge on the 34th floor of his East London apartment building.

He originally shared the shocking image to Twitter (now X) after a wild night of partying in London for One Direction bandmate Zayn Malik’s 21st birthday.

The singer, wearing a plaid shirt and black pants, stood just inches away from the building’s edge.

The image upset One Direction fans as they expressed their fears for Payne’s safety at the time, with many begging him not to ‘jump.’ 

One tweeted: ‘That photo of @Real_Liam_Payneon that balcony really gave me a mini heart attack … please don’t do that again!’

While another wrote: ‘@Real_Liam_ Payne should stop thinking he’s Batman, when he’s not … Stop climbing on your balcony!’

In response to the fan outcry, Payne issued an apology calling the stunt ‘stupid’ and ‘extremely dangerous.’

‘You may have seen a photo of me today taken on top of a building. I regret being there and having a photo taken,’ he wrote in a string of tweets.

‘It was a stupid and irresponsible thing to do. I am sorry, and do not endorse any fans trying to repeat this, as it is extremely dangerous.’

The resurfaced photo comes in wake of reports that Payne was acting erratically and had to be escorted back to his hotel room before he plunged to his death on Wednesday – with hotel workers making a panicked call to police

He fell from the third floor of the Casa Sur Palmero hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina after flying into the country to catch One Direction bandmate Niall Horan’s concert.

Hours after Payne’s death, it emerged that police in Buenos Aires were contacted by a worker at the hotel who reported ‘an aggressive man who may have been under the effects of drugs and alcohol’.

Shortly afterwards, workers heard a loud sound in the hotel’s courtyard before the One Direction star’s body was discovered just after 5pm.

According to local media , Liam ‘had been acting erratically in the hotel lobby and smashed his laptop’ before he ‘had to be carried back to his room’.

Police had received a call from a worker at the hotel urgently requesting help with an intoxicated guest, according to audio related to the case obtained from the Buenos Aires security ministry.

‘When he is conscious he is destroying the entire room and we need you to send someone,’ the worker said.

Emergency medical services director Alberto Crescenti said Liam had suffered ‘very serious injuries after falling from a third floor into an internal courtyard’.

‘We verified his identity using the passport he had,’ he said.

Mr Crescenti told Argentine newspaper Clarin that ‘the team saw that he apparently had a fracture at the base of the skull’.

His body was transported to a local morgue where a post-mortem examination will be carried out.

Unverified pictures have since emerged online claiming to be Liam’s hotel room completely trashed with one image showing a smashed television screen.

Last night tearful fans hugged each other as they gathered and lit candles outside the hotel where Liam’s body was found.

One woman could be seen sitting on the pavement with her head in between her knees.

The Foreign Office confirmed it is in contact with authorities in Argentina ‘regarding reports of the death of a British man’.

TV presenter Dermot O’Leary said Liam’s death was the ‘worst news’ when he paid tribute to the star last night.

Alongside a photo of O’Leary and Payne standing on stage together, he wrote on Instagram: ‘The worst news. I remember him as a 14-year-old turning up to audition on The X Factor, and blowing us away singing Sinatra. He just loved to sing.

‘He was always a joy, had time for everyone, polite, grateful, and was always humble.’

Emergency medical services director Mr Crescenti said Mr Payne had fallen around 40metres and suffered ‘severe injuries which were incompatible with life’.

He said: ‘The alarm was raised at 5.04pm local time saying a person was lying in an internal patio at Casa Sur. 

‘At 5.11pm an ambulance arrived and the man was certified dead.

‘Afterwards we found out he had been a famous singer. Unfortunately the injuries he had suffered as a result of the fall proved to be fatal. There was no possibility of resuscitating him.’

The star’s final Snapchat post showed him happily posing with his partner Kate Cassidy as they looked into a mirror – a picture which was originally taken last August.

Further posts from the final moments of the star’s life showed him enjoying lunch in his hotel room, where he revealed the pair had been ‘waking up at 1pm every day’ and deciding on Forest Gump as a Halloween costume.

A further tragic selfie was captioned: ‘Lovely day in Argentina’ before the star shared a photo of his hotel, writing: ‘Happy I got some time away’ followed by a heart emoji.

He shared a further photo with Kate captioned: ‘Quality time.’

His death comes days after his ex-fiancée May Henry started legal proceedings against him.

The Texan model, 23, instructed lawyers to issue a cease and desist letter to the One Direction star after accusing him of repeatedly contacting her.

The brunette beauty also accused Liam of obsessively contacting her friends and family including her mother Azteca Henry.

Liam began his pursuit to stardom when he initially auditioned for X Factor in 2008.

At only 14 years old, Liam impressed judges with his own version of Fly Me To The Moon by Frank Sinatra – but was later eliminated from the show.

However, Payne gave his singing career another go auditioning for the competition again in 2010, where he quickly shot to fame as part of One Direction.

He and his former bandmates Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, were brought together by Simon Cowell and former judge Nicole Scherzinger who saw their potential as a group.

After just a few weeks of getting to know each other and non-stop rehearsing, the group impressed Simon at their Judge’s Houses audition and sailed through to the live shows.

The pop Svengali later admitted to Rolling Stone that it took him ‘about a millionth of a second’ to spot the group’s worldwide potential.

The fan reaction was instant too, with 1D hysteria soon dwarfing the show. Despite the adoration, the band ultimately finished in third place on the X Factor but shortly afterwards Cowell sealed their fate by signing the fivesome to a reported £2million Syco contract.

Keen to capitalize on the boys’ already devoted fanbase, Cowell moved quickly with recording for the band’s debut album beginning in January 2011.

By September of that year One Direction’s first single was released with What Makes You Beautiful soaring to number one on the UK Singles Chart, after becoming the most pre-ordered Sony Music Entertainment single in history.

Their debut album, Up All Night was also a best seller, becoming the UK’s fastest-selling debut album of 2011, with the record leading to their first tour which kicked off in the UK that December.

After Malik announced his departure from the band in 2015, the band members went their separate ways.

During their time as a group, One Direction won five Brit Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, amassed over three billion YouTube views and sold 50 million records worldwide.

After releasing five albums with one of the biggest boybands of all time, Liam released his first solo album titled LP1 in 2019.

His singles Strip That Down co-written with Ed Sheeran climbed its way to number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart that same year.

Over the course of his music career, the popstar collaborated with the likes of J Balvin, French Montana, Dixie D’Amelio and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie.