Is THIS the reason Liam Payne was unable to perform at One Direction’s cancelled gig?

One Direction were forced to cancel the first of their three-day stint at the SSE Arena, Belfast, on Tuesday because poor ol’ Liam Payne wasn’t feeling too good.

Minutes before they were due to perform, Liam was taken ill and it has now been claimed it’s because he’s struggling to deal with the ‘pressures of fame’.

According to The Sun, the 22 year old suffered ‘panic attack-like symptoms’ prior to the performance, which forced the world-famous band to cancel the show and reschedule for this Friday.

"The pressures of fame and being on the road for two years have made Liam ill," a source told the newspaper.

"He was devastated about letting everyone down, especially the fans, but he wasn’t physically able to get on stage. He had a complete meltdown."

And as further reports claim Liam may ‘pull a Zayn Malik’ and leave 1D, the source adds Liam’s "complete meltdown" had been "brewing" for a while.

Despite these rumours, Liam took to Twitter on Wednesday to apologise to his fans and let them know he was "feeling much better".

We hope all is well in Liam land, pal.

In the meantime, why don't you pop over HERE to see 1D's new music video for *Perfect. *It's pretty, erm, Perfect.

One Direction Perfect video stills released: