Liam Payne’s ex-fiancée Maya Henry opened up about her deeply personal experience with abortion.
Henry, who recently launched her debut novel Looking Forward, candidly shared how her own life inspired the fictional narrative.
In her novel, Henry’s protagonist Mallory undergoes an abortion after her partner issues and ultimatum, echoing the 23-year-old’s real-life ordeal.
During her discussion with PEOPLE, Henry expressed mixed sentiments, stating that if she had the choice, she wouldn’t have opted for the procedure.
“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?” Henry added.
Henry’s decision to incorporate her personal experience into her novel aims to spark a conversation about challenges women face, she stated, “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.”
An insider shared with the outlet, “It broke my heart seeing her like that when she’s usually always so happy and positive… that was hands down the lowest point of her life, and it didn’t have to be that way.”
The former One Direction member and Maya Henry got engaged in 2020 and parted ways in 2021.
After rekindling their romance later, they broke up in 2022