Fans Believe Liam Payne Pressured Fiancée Maya Henry To Get A Painful Abortion

One Direction's Liam Payne and Maya Henry first sparked dating rumors in August 2018 after they were photographed together.

They debuted their relationship in September 2019 on Instagram, with the singer posting a photo of him and Henry cozying up together. “Sometimes I don’t recognize this happy guy … Sure glad you brought him back though,” he captioned the post. The two became engaged years later, only to call it quits in 2022.

Today, Maya Henry has penned a novel titled Looking Forward, which she says is "definitely inspired by true events." Though fans would expect her latest page-turner to be romantic, the book includes a content warning alerting readers to "sensitive material like abortion, abuse, violence, self-harm, substance abuse, and eating disorders," according to PEOPLE.

In her work, the protagonist finds herself in a relationship with a pop sensation, only for him to give her a disgusting ultimatum: terminate the pregnancy or risk losing him altogether. Henry said that she, too, went through a painful and lonely abortion.

“Obviously the book is fiction,” she tells the outlet, but it's "definitely inspired by true events... [The main character] Mallory is very similar to me, and that’s why it was very easy for me to write her character and put the emotion in there. I’m just grateful that I have this opportunity and platform to really help be a voice for women.”

In Looking Forward, Oliver closely parallels Payne's life, who rose to fame thanks to One Direction's success. Oliver turns to substances, later punching a hole in a wall in a fit of "rage." Henry’s book includes a part where Oliver pressures Mallory to get an abortion or face being single.

“I drew inspiration [from my real life], and I wanted to include a scene like that in the book because while not everyone dates a pop star, I feel like everyone dates someone like Oliver,” she references a moment where Oliver breaks a light fixture, sending shards of glass into Mallory’s arm. “I feel like it was just important for women to be seen in that way, and can relate and not feel like they’re alone in whatever they’re going through," Henry tells PEOPLE.

Mallory, like many women in real life, goes through with the abortion – but it wasn't a quick operation as some people may have us believe. Instead, Mallory suffers severe complications and is forced to visit the hospital to treat her hemorrhaging.

“What I went through in real life is very similar to what Mallory went through in the book. I definitely did have some complications, and I did have to go to the hospital alone,” Henry said about her abortion. “It was very lonely, having these men tell you, ‘Oh, it’s going to feel like a heavy period, it’s not going to be that painful, it’s going to be easy.’ But I’m like, you’ve never even gone through anything like [this], so how would you know to tell me? That’s why I wanted to include it in the book because I’ve seen so many people online talk about taking the abortion pill, and it was the most painful thing for them. It’s just mind-boggling to me that you could tell a woman how they’re going to feel.”

The abortion pill has come with horrifying consequences for some of the women who have taken it. Most women who take mifepristone, a type of abortion pill, experience nausea, abdominal pain, period irregularities, anaphylactic shock, severe skin reactions, endometrial hyperplasia, and so on. Scientists from the University of Michigan Health System found that misoprostol, a known abortion pill also used to treat stomach ulcers, led to eight deaths due to a bacterial infection.

Men who don't want to take responsibility for their actions will downplay the side effects of clinical and pill-induced abortions, stating that it's "quick and easy." Fresh and Fit's host, for example, allegedly pressured his girlfriend into getting an abortion.

When his ex-girlfriend, Daisy, told him she didn't want to kill the baby, Fresh thoughtlessly responded with, "You're not. They just give you a pill, and it's over."

But it's never really that simple, is it? His statement belies the emotional weight and physical consequences of abortions. In reality, it's more than just taking a pill or lying in bed and leaving everything to healthcare professionals. Women often endure significant physical discomfort, sometimes they experience regret.

It seems that Henry was pressured as well, telling PEOPLE that if it were her choice (it should've been hers to begin with), she would have kept the baby: “If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have done it. But then also, if I were to have made a different decision, then I would’ve lost the person that I loved. There were definitely difficult conversations about it. But looking back now, things happen for a reason.”

Naturally, fans on social media are speculating that Payne made Henry abort her baby. "What the f*ck so he made her get it, but didn’t go with her?!!!" asked user @cinemacaris.

"So he made her get an abortion then didn’t even go to the hospital with her??? Wtaf Liam," added @lvstylerry.

@hjtattoos said, "He made her do it telling her it was the baby or him????? And she made her do it ALONE????? wow."

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