Liam Payne texts Ant Middleton telling him he loves him.
Liam Payne
The ex-soldier struck up a friendship with the former One Direction star after they appeared together on Sky1's 'Straight Talking' documentary last year as he opened up about mental health, and Ant always tries to let the 25-year-old singer know he's there for him.
As quoted by The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column, Ant said: "I have seen Liam since the show and we talk on the phone. It's natural. Liam is a very strong young man.
"I get a text every now and again saying, 'Love you bro' and I like to let him know I am here. It's nice, he's a cool guy. He's open and honest.
"To take someone out of their mad lifestyle and make them isolated, they are going to open up. It is about taking people to the norm and into reality."
During the special programme, Liam - who has been paving his way as a solo artist since the boy band went on hiatus in late 2015 - admitted he's thankful for the break, as the hectic schedule of the group "nearly killed" him.
He said: "For some certain circumstances I'm quite lucky to be here still. There are times when that level of loneliness and people getting into you every day, it's like, 'When will this end?' That's almost nearly killed me a couple of times."
And when asked by Ant if he'd ever wanted to act on his thoughts, Liam added: "Yeah, when I've been in a bad place. It's one hundred per cent, you know. There's no point denying it - it's definitely been on the menu a couple of times in my life."
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