Liam Payne has been the most vocal of One Direction to show his support to Harry Styles as ex bandmate’s career continues to soar and soar. Styles turns 30 today

While Harry Styles has become the breakout star of One Direction, becoming a record breaking pop singer across the globe, there is one of his former bandmates who has remained his biggest cheerleader.

Liam Payne has reached out to his former bandmember at all of his biggest milestones – with fans braced for a sweet message again from Liam today as his pal reaches his 30th birthday.

When Harry cleaned up at the Grammy Awards last year, walking away with two huge gongs – Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album – for his record Harry’s House – his success didn’t go unnoticed by his former One Direction bandmate Liam.

Liam, who’s enjoyed his own musical success since the band broke up in 2015, reached out to Harry with a very unlikely post following his old pal’s victory.

Taking to his Instagram, the dad-of-one posted a black and white snap of Harry as he gazed down proudly at his Grammy. Liam took the opportunity to write Harry a sentimental note in the caption to congratulate him.

The Strip That Down singer wrote: “Wow… this image is really something to wake up to and when you write music like you do Harry you deserve every millisecond of that moment looking down smiling at the trophy you’ve earned. God bless you brother congratulations.” [sic]

Fans rushed to the comments to express their surprise at the note, with one telling fellow followers they were “ugly crying”.

Harry Styles attends the 65th GRAMMY Awards ( Image: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)

The star went home one of the biggest winners on the night ( Image: WireImage)

The post came as a huge shock to fans after the bandmates bond seemed to fall apart as they their separate ways and pursued solo careers after announcing a hiatus with no plans to reunite.

Rumours of bad blood between the boys have been rife but it seems all that has been put behind them as Liam threw his support behind his friend. Speaking on Diary of a CEO podcast with Steve Bartlett, Liam lifted the lid on his friendships with his ex pals.

He revealed: “I get on great with most of them. I had a call from Harry the other day. I love him to pieces. Louis I speak to a lot. We have always had a close connection.”

Last year Liam publicly apologised to his former bandmates Harry, Niall Horan, , Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik after previously throwing them under the bus and criticising them in several scathing attacks.

Liam has admitted that his criticism of the talented four men came from a place of insecurity as he ‘scrambled to stay relevant’ by appearing in interviews including Logan Paul’s controversial podcast where he claimed that he was the most talented member of One Direction, and he got into a physical fight with another bandmate during the height of the boyband’s fame.

The Strip That Down hitmaker took his fans by surprise when he posted a heartfelt video to his YouTube channel, where he finally addressed several controversial comments he made about his One Direction bandmates during an appearance on Logan Paul’s podcast last year.

Admitting that he was in a bad place at the time the podcast was recorded, Liam retracted several of the statements he made about Louis, Harry, Niall, and Zayn in the YouTube video. “A lot of what I said came from the wrong place. I was so angry at what was going on around me, and instead of taking a look inwards, I decided to look outwards at everybody else. And I just think, yeah, I took it out on everybody else, which is just wrong, really,” Liam said in the video. “My own frustrations with my own career and where I kind of landed, I took shots at everybody else, which is wrong, so obviously I want to apologise for that in the first instance, because that’s definitely not me,” he added.

Addressing his controversial comments about his bandmates, Liam insisted that they came from a place of ‘self protection’ as he found himself constantly comparing himself to his former bandmates.

“The rest of the boys really stuck by me, and when I needed them the most, they kind of came to the rescue. Even Zayn as well, which is why I did send him a little thank you online, actually,” the singer shared.

Liam also stood up for Harry when he faced criticism for his groundbreaking Vogue cover. Harry made Vogue history by becoming the first male to appear solo on the cover of the US edition since it was first printed 128 years ago as posed up in a striking grey dress.

“I thought it was great, I think he’s enjoying himself and he’s free to do as he wishes and you know I just think that people don’t need to be so bothered about stuff,” Liam insisted.

Harry has also returned the favour and stuck up for Liam when he found himself at the heart of a social media storm.

Wolverhampton born Liam baffled Good Morning Britain viewers with a bizarre new accent and American twang during a red-carpet interview at the Oscars.

Staunchly defending his pal, Harry admitted his own accent was “a little bit all over the place.” When asked for his opinion on the furore, he said: “I think it’s a little bit all over the place because I’m from up north and I’ve lived in London for 10 years and I’ve spent a lot of time in America and stuff and I think when I’m with Americans they don’t think I sound American at all, and then I think sometimes when I’m with English people they expect me to sound American, I don’t think I do, but I try and translate for whoever I’m with!”