The strong friendships of Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik were the secret to their success-until the gossip mill began to spin.
Before One Direction was born in 2010 to X Factor Head Simon Cowell, the teens Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Niall Horan were all boyish bums and bums.
Their interviews were packed full of ladish tactility-and the fans loved it, because even though they started off as strangers, it seemed like the fivesome was the perfect match.
And by the time they achieved their first number one with What Makes You Beautiful in September 2011, the best mates Harry and Louis had leased a three million pound flat in North London together in the same building where Ashley Cole and Cheryl had met.
Yet within a matter of months, they were said to have stopped talking and flew out in the midst of talking about a mysterious dispute.
“Aside from Harry and Louis, no one knows precisely what caused the fall-they didn’t even tell the other boys all the details,” the source told The Sun at the time.
“But it was really bad, and their relationship never recovered.”
Feelings were evidently so frosty that the boys declined to move together, and the bosses had to find a way to produce the last three records without the band being in the studio-said Louis declined.
Even Niall ignored the claims, telling the fans not to believe the rumors.
“We ‘re good as a band and we’re brothers,” he tweeted.
Yet what might have happened to the once tight-knit friends?
It was their bandmate Zayn who hinted at the cause of the transition, revealing that the ‘Larry Stylinson’ fanfiction, which depicted the pair as lovers, had caused the boys to withdraw from friendship.
In an effort to make fans realize the importance of their remarks, Zayn-who left 1D in 2015-told The Fader: “It’s not funny, so it’s always hard for them.
“They’re not going to put their arms around each other, of course, because they’re aware of this thing that’s going on, which isn’t real. They’re not going to do the normal action.”
To Louis, he challenged the effect the rumors had on his own relationship and acknowledged that the news had ‘built an atmosphere’ between him and Harry.
“When it first came, I was with Eleanor, and it just seemed a little disrespectful of Eleanor, who is now my partner. I’m so protective of stuff like this, to those I love,” he said to The Sun.
“It generated this environment between the two of you, where we stared at what we did. It took away the aura that you took off from everyone. It made us, I think on both fences, a little bit more unapproachable.”
Although Harry declined to mark his sexuality, Louis described himself as heterosexual and was angry when a cartoon in the HBO series Euphoria portrayed a sex scene between him and Harry last year.
“I can categorically state that I was not approached, nor did I approve of it,” he argued on Twitter, with a source telling The Sun he was “angered” that the “awkward” situation had escalated.
Despite the controversy, Louis and Harry are still friends, with the latter joining Niall and Liam in support of Louis’ emotional X Factor appearance following the death of his mother, Johannah Deakin, in December 2016.
And to celebrate their 10th anniversary today, the band, minus Zayn, would like to thank their fans with an immersive fan experience called the 10 Years of One Direction website.
Their rep clarified that a video would also be released featuring a timeline of the best bits of the band, “from the creation of The X Factor to the release of their single Biography, including music video clips, appearances and candid behind-the-scenes video material. And, of course, the unique relationship they have with their fans.”
Unfortunately, however, Liam let him slip that although he, Harry, Louis and Niall, got in contact to celebrate the milestone, he removed Zayn from any future reunion.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said to Jonathan Ross. “It wasn’t nice when he left, and I don’t feel like it’s a problem. If he didn’t want to be here, he shouldn’t be here, which is all right.”
1 Comment
Why on earth is this “news”? Why are you dragging up decade-old drama? They have gone their separate ways as men and as artists, and this kind of thing doesn’t help anyone let it go.