Myleene Klass thinks the public can be quite "unforgiving" towards celebrities who struggle with their mental health.
The 46-year-old star found fame as a member of Hear'Say in the early 2000s and following the death of former One Direction singer Liam Payne - who passed away on Wednesday (16.10.24) at the age of 31 after falling from the balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires - insisted that there is a "literal line of pop roadkill" amongst young celebrities because the type of behaviour that is "almost encouraged" amongst them.
Speaking on UK TV show 'Loose Women', she said: "I was in a band in my early twenties and the experience of it was absolutely incredible when it was incredible. But when it was low, it's so difficult to comprehend because we're almost unforgiving of anyone who is struggling because we think 'You've got fame, you've got money, you can go to any party you want. Why is your life so hard when I'm trying to make ends meet?'
"So we're quite unforgiving of it.
"But they're like Icarus, they fly too close to the sun. There's a literal line of so much pop roadkill because of the experiences they go through. So if we see somebody taking drugs, there are very few scenarios that you would allow that or occupations where people could get away with that but it's almost encouraged because it plays into that rock and roll lifestyle. What did you expect?"
The 'Pure and Simple' hitmaker - who was in Hear'Say alongside Danny Foster, Kym Marsh, Suzanne Shaw, and Noel Sullivan - noted that she and her bandmates were "in way equipped" to deal with certain experiences that came their way because of early fame.
"Some of the experiences we went through as a band, we were in no way equipped for it. We were just five kids in a room at the end of the day, not unlike these five kids [One Direction] in a room. That's all you have at the end of the day. You're together in the press, you're on tour together, you're on stage together and all your friends are either at uni or they've got jobs so by default you're back together again."
Liam shot to fame alongside Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik on the UK version of 'The X Factor' in 2010 and Liam had been staying in the Argentinian city after attending Niall's concert there just a fortnight earlier.
Police found a bottle of whiskey, a lighter, and a white powder in the room, as well as medications including clonazepam - which is used to treat epilepsy, panic disorders or involuntary muscle spasms - and energy pills.
Law enforcement officials described "total disorder" in the room, with various things broken.
Audio from the two calls made by the hotel's head of reception to emergency services has also circulated online, with the employee admitting staff were "worried" a guest would put their life at risk.
In the first call, he said: "We have a guest drunk with drugs and alcohol. When he [them, gender not clear in conversation] is conscious, he is breaking everything in the room...
"We have a guest who is destroying everything in his room. We need someone to come."
After the line went dead, he called back and said: "We need you to send someone urgently because I don’t know if the guest’s life is in danger.
"They must be in a room that has a balcony. And well, we’re a little bit worried he’ll do something, that he’ll put his life at risk."
Liam's body was found in the hotel's inner courtyard at around 5pm local time.
TMZ.com reported witnesses stated Liam had been "acting erratic" in the lobby of the hotel with the outlet publishing statements suggesting the singer had smashed his laptop and had to be taken back to his room.
