Louis Tomlinson has said grief has made him stronger after experiencing the “dark side” of life.
The One Direction singer lost his mother in 2016 shortly after the band went on hiatus, and earlier this year his sister Felicite died of an accidental drugs overdose.
Tomlinson said his creative efforts were “pathetic” in the wake of his loss, but that his heartache had given him a different outlook.
Speaking to The Guardian, the singer said he had no time to feel sorry for himself.
He said: “That whole dark side I’ve gone through, it sounds stupid to say, but it gives me strength everywhere else in my life, because that’s the darkest shit that I’m going to have to deal with.
“So it makes everything else, not feel easier and not less important, but, in the grand scheme of things, you see things for what they are, I suppose.”
The singer said his fans played a part in helping him through the pain and shock of losing his mother and his sister.
Tomlinson struggled to figure out his place in the music landscape after One Direction went on a break, and said after his mother Johannah’s death, that his lyrics failed to match what he was truly feeling.
But he believes that whatever his life and career throw at him, tragic experience will help put his struggles into perspective.
He said: “There’s no time for me to be sat feeling sorry for myself. I’ve been to rock bottom and I feel like, whatever my career’s going to throw in front of me, it’s going to be nothing as big or as emotionally heavy as that.
“So, weirdly, I’ve turned something that’s really dark into something that empowers me, makes me stronger.”
The singer said that he does not want people to feel sorry for him, as he does not look on himself with pity.
His debut album will be released in 2020.
