A blog dedicated to extinguishing false media-portrayals of the members of One Direction. :) Asks will be answered on our official ask blog. Hit the message button below to go there.
It's been very quiet here, because the people responsible for writing the posts have been troubled by various real life things. But we plan to get back to doing posts and hopefully keeping everyone informed.
If anyone has any rumors they'd like debunked, please send them to our ask page. Similarly, if anyone would like to help us write the rumor posts, send us an ask (or e-mail us, but an ask is the easiest way to go!)
Ever since Emily Atack opened up about her relationship with Harry Styles, we have received multiple messages asking us to look into the subject.
Emily admitted to dating Harry on August 6th 2013 in an interview with Reveal Magazine (x). She said “We were never boyfriend and girlfriend.” and admitted to having “a short-lived thing that was just a bit of fun” before they went in opposite directions.
Harry and Emily were first linked together in May 2012 (x). The articles that were printed all claimed that Harry and Emily had started dating after Harry returned from the Australian leg of their tour, so after April 22nd. They had been taking the time to get to know each other and were quite close, or so the articles reported (x).
TWEETS
That wasn’t the first time they interacted, however. The very first tweet referencing Harry was from October 17th, 2010, when Emily tweeted
“does Harry from One Direction HAVE to be 16?! Let’s pretend he’s 18 at least! Then there’d only be One Direction he’d be going..to the bedroom!”
(x)
At the time she tweeted this, multiple people responded to articles about it by saying that she was actually in a happy relationship (x).
The first time they interacted was when Harry responded to a tweet Emily wrote about watching Jackass 3D (x), to which Emily responded (x). This exchange was on November 24th, 2010.
On March 14th 2011, Harry responded to a tweet Emily posted that included a picture of food (x).
On March 25th, 2011, Harry again responded to a tweet from Emily, this time about drunk homeless men (x). There seem to have been multiple tweets on this date, that can be found here (x), those tweets can’t be linked to Twitter anymore.
On March 27th, 2011, Harry responded to a tweet Emily sent about Sam and Brianne, the finalists in that year’s Dancing on Ice (the show Emily appeared on in 2010). (x)
On June 23rd, 2011, Harry tweeted good morning at 5 P.M. UK time, to which Emily responded (x).
October 7th, 2011, Harry tweeted that Emily had asked them to be their backing vocalist (x). Emily also tweeted Harry saying “I’m sorry, I can’t marry you” to which Harry replied “I know, that’s why I explained you should stop calling me and leave me alone” (x). Emily replied to this, saying “ok I’ll collect my knickers you stole from my house tomorrow then..?” (x)
On October 9th, 2011, One Direction performed at the Teen Awards, and Emily tweeted “That was extremely scary, you guys are LOUD!! Loved it x” to which Harry replied “Was worried how @EmAtack kept putting her hand on my leg at the teen awards.. the biting the lip was a bit too much.” (x) Emily’s response was “oh come off it, you were putting the hands there!!” which seems to be deleted off Twitter but can be found on favstar (x).
The last interaction between them on Twitter that we could find was in January 2012, when Emily responded to Harry’s tweet that said “Finding a ham and cheese sandwich with a good ham to cheese ratio is always tricky..” with “melt the cheese, and all will be fine x” (x). Harry then replied “not a massive fan of mayo either..” (x).
ROMANCE
From as far as we could find, there were no public interactions between Harry and Emily from the time of the Mayo tweet (January 2012) until the time they were linked together in the press (April and May 2012). Although Emily called it a brief fling in August 2013, at the time of the actual relationship, it was said to be serious (x). To fully understand the extent of their relationship, we decided to make a short timeline of events.
The articles all claimed the relationship started after Harry returned from the Australian leg of their tour, saying that they spent the night together. The boys returned to the UK on April 24th (x). Harry spent the day in London (x) and at night, hung out with friends at Nick Grimshaw’s house (x). Emily, on this day, was at the premiere for her movie, Outside Bet (x) in London.
On April 24th, an article appeared in which Harry’s mother stated that Harry was happy to be single (x)
On April 25th, Emily spent a normal night at home (x).
Harry spent April 26th until April 30th in Holmes Chapel, where he was photographed at his house (x)(x)(x), spending time with his friend Ellis (x) on the 28th and golfing with another friend (x).
Emily, according to her tweets, spent these days at Princess Productions studios in West London (x) on the 26th, staying in for the night to prepare for an interview on the 27th (x), interviewing with the BBC on the 28th (x) and with her friend Lydia that night (x). She spent time with her sister on the 29th, watching a movie (x).
On May 1st, Harry left for LAX (x). When exactly he returned to the UK is uncertain, but he was spotted in Notting Hill on the 5th of May (x) and spent the evening with Nick and other friends (x). On this day, Perez Hilton posted an article that claimed that Harry was advised to stay single (x). Emily, meanwhile, attended the FHM sexiest women in the world party on May 1st (x) after shopping earlier that day (x), spent time with her sister and Francesca Hales (from Trace publicity) on May 2nd (x) and spent her time recovering from the FHM party (x).
On May 4th she tweeted about being sick (x) with what was later revealed to be a chest infection. She continued to tweet about being sick until May 21st (x). On May 7th (x), May 8th (x) (x), May 16th (x), May 17th (x) and May 19th she repeatedly tweeted about being sick, and she also suffered from broken ribs (x). The tweets also suggest that she spent a lot of this time recovering in her home, often accompanied by her sister. In this timeframe she also went to Britain’s Got Talent (x) on May 10th, Wardour street on May 12 (x), and spent the night drinking at home on May 18th (x) after revealing she had broken her ribs (x).
Harry, after returning from the US, spent the night of May 6th having dinner at Rosso’s (x), was with Lou Teasdale on the 7th (x) and in Holmes Chapel (x). He spent the 8th of May at an Antique Market in Surrey (x) and the 9th in London (x) where the boys visited sick kids for Rays of Sunshine (x)(x). They also left for Sweden on this day (x) and spent May 10th to May 15th in Sweden (x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x).
After returning from Sweden, Harry spent May 17th shopping with Nick Grimshaw (x) and went out to Le Baron club in London on the 19th (x) with Nick Grimshaw (x). The boys then left the UK again on the 20th (x), arriving in Boston (x) to start off the US leg of their tour. Their first concert was on the 22nd (x). On the 23rd they attended the Men In Black 3 premiere (x).
At the Men in Black premiere on the 23rd, Harry confirmed that he was single (x). A day later, articles confirmed that Emily and Harry had broken up (x)(x), but in these articles Louis was quoted as spilling the details on Harry’s relationship status.
On May 28th Harry denied ever having dated Emily (x), saying “I don’t know where anyone got the idea that she’s my girlfriend. We’ve only met a couple of times, we’re friends. I didn’t even kiss her.”
Now Magazine posted an article about Harry’s denial, but in this article claimed that Harry hadn’t seen Emily for the past two months (x), and also that Harry pursued Emily after the tweet where she declared him a hottie, which is the 2010 tweet, a long time before their supposed fling.
The only times, prior to August 2013, that Emily spoke up about the relationship was on September 4th 2012 (x) and September 6th, 2012 (x). In both instances she claimed that they were just friends.
CONCLUSION: Although Harry and Emily both seemed busy in the timeframe for their fling or relationship, it isn’t impossible that they actually met up. Although Harry has been spotted most days during his break from touring, we are by no means suggesting that we know where Harry has been every hour on said days. It does seem unlikely though, seeing as there were very few days that they could have met up, between Harry’s other commitments and Emily’s weeks of being ill, that they ever engaged in a serious relationship, as the media claimed back then. We did not find any substantial evidence for the claim that they spent a night, or multiple nights, together; in fact, no pictures of the two of them together seem to exist. As for why Emily suddenly decided to reveal her relationship with Harry, it should be noted that a few days after she revealed her fling with Harry, her movie Get Lucky was released in the UK on August 9th, 2013. (x) (x)
We have been asked to look into the feud between The Wanted and One Direction, so we have decided to compile all the evidence we could find on the matter, and see if there is anything that backs up the claim that the feud is mainly used for publicity. We also tried to establish what started the feud, and whether or not the BensonTheWanted account, known for its inflammatory tweets against One Direction, is an account associated with The Wanted or just a fan account.
The Wanted and One Direction appeared to be friends, or at least friendly in this (x) video from when One Direction were on the X Factor. It is probably from the week of November 29, 2010, when the Wanted performed their single Lose My Mind on the X Factor. (x)
The first time The Wanted publicly spoke out about One Direction was in an interview with the Daily Star on July 29th, 2011 (x). They also spoke out about JLS on this occasion, with whom they were competing for the top position in the singles’ chart. The Wanted’s ‘Glad You Came’ had been in first place for two weeks, having been released on the 10th of July 2011 as the second single from their second album (x). In the interview Max George is quoted as saying “We are glad we are not an X Factor band. One Direction, where are they now? It's nice that we are a band who started with nothing. The X Factor is just for that moment and we did not want to be trapped.”
In an interview with Scott Mills in August 2011, One Direction were told about what the Wanted said about them (x). When asked about it, Louis answers “Things are often taken out of context, and I don’t know if that is what he said. I mean.. We kind of .. we get on with those boys so I don’t know, it’d be a funny thing if that is what he said.”
On February 29th, 2012, when The Wanted was asked about any rivalry with One Direction, Jay McGuinness was quoted as saying “We're really, really happy for them. They're nothing like us so there is no rivalry! They own that whole Bieber-style mania, and they all look perfect - we could never do that. We both have our place, and you can't help but wish guys that you genuinely like all the best." (x)
In March 2012, after releasing ‘Glad You Came’ in the US (after Glee had covered it on one of their episodes), Metro interviewed the boys, a week after the song hit #5 in the US Billboard Chart (x). In the interview, Max George was quoted as saying “I’m not sure how well they’re actually doing yet. They’re more faces, if you know what I mean.” He went on to say that they were not the same kind of band, as One Direction was marketed more towards children, and were more magazine based. It was picked up by the media as though The Wanted said that One Direction was more about appearance than music.
The day this article came out, on March 6th,The Wanted responded via their Twitter, saying:
“Don't believe everything u read. We like to party but we do not have an interest in hating on anyone else. We do us and r proud 2 see others do the same.”
(x)(x)
Max later posted this message on his own Twitter, that has since been deleted:
“Just to clear up... I think interviews have been twisted and made into much dramatic than what they were.. We appreciate all other artists.”
(x)
Nathan, who had been quoted by People as saying
“If you look at One Direction's chart position and then look at ours, they're not really even our rivals. They have different fans to us. We don't want their fans, they're too young. We laugh and say that their fans are our fans' younger sisters. We have our own success going on in America and it isn't just with the music." (x)
also responded via Twitter, commenting:
"Right I’m kinda gonna second what was said last night on @thewantedmusic. I’m annoyed that all we do is big up other british artists cause we are proud of what ALL of the brits are doing worldwide atm and I’m not gonna let a quote that has been taken in the wrong way put a divide between any fanbases. We do this for MUSIC and the fans. #love”
(x)(x)(x)
He further tweeted:
“When someone takes your words and twists them its like a knife in the back #whathappenedtothegoodguys?!” (x)
In the period between February 15th and March 9th, The Wanted promoted their album in the UK and Northern Ireland via ‘The Code Tour’.
Not even two weeks after, on March 15th, articles were posted claiming that The Wanted didn’t see One Direction as competition (x) until they had a US hit (x). One of the articles also mentions that Max previously denied saying negative things about One Direction.
On March 21st, One Direction’s Up All Night (x) debuted at number 1 in the US Billboard Charts.
In July, Louis was photographed holding up an unofficial biography of The Wanted after he was chased into a bargain shop (x)
During an interview at the VMA’s, on September 6th 2012, The Wanted were mistaken for One Direction, and played along, with Max George saying that The Wanted’s new single was far better than ‘their own’ (x). Louis indirectly tweeted to say that he’s “not sure” he agrees with them, to which Nathan indirectly tweeted “truth hurts.” Tom Parker of The Wanted made a joke out of it, by saying that they should just go on a date instead of indirecting each other (x) to which Louis replied “It’s a date!” (x)
Shortly after this, something happened that a lot of people take as the start of the feud between The Wanted and One Direction. Most people have taken it as fact that The Wanted made fun of Harry’s Red or Black performance, where they first performed live and Harry choked up. There is a tweet sent from an account called @BensontheWanted that referenced this performance
(x)
Louis did reply to this post (x). We weren’t sure if it was an actual legitimate account or just a fan account, but in this video you can hear the boys from The Wanted say that the official twitter account for the dog (who is their mascot) is called @bensonthewanted: (x). The account won a Shorty Award, which honors the best in social media, and as such, The Wanted couldn’t have accepted the award if the account was fanmade.
Also in September 2012, The Wanted did an interview with Chris Moyles for Radio 1, who suggested that The Wanted would be a lot more popular if it wasn’t for One Direction. The Wanted responded by saying that their new single would be different and that they tried not to be stereotypical (x). Harry responded via Twitter, saying “Chris Moyles' is actually right though... If 1D aren't in the picture, The Wanted would've been WAY more popular!”. The tweet has since been deleted but was picked up on by several media sources (x).
On the 15th of October the Wanted’s new single “I Found You” premiered on Youtube, with the official song being released on November 5th.
On the 5th of November, an article was also posted that had Max speaking out about the relationship between The Wanted and One Direction (x). He was quoted as saying “We're not the best of friends, so it's not like we are going to go up and start hugging and kissing. And they make little comments in interviews when we're mentioned. But they're young, and that's expected, and I laugh at it. If they're taking it seriously, then maybe that's just an age thing."
Jay added: "There's no actual fighting, it's just the way it goes in the media. I've met the boys.”
On the same day, Louis spoke up to Now Magazine about the feud as well, saying “I want to speak openly about this because it's quite frustrating, I remember when I'd just done my first audition on The X Factor and I heard 'All Time Low' for the first time. I thought it was a great song by a great band. We met them on the show and they were nice."
He added: "It changed all of a sudden. There was one press story where they were bad-mouthing us. I thought maybe that had been twisted. But then there ended up being about ten stories and they've been caught on camera doing little things. I just think, 'If you want to create that rivalry, then let's do it.' We're not bothered about the friction or the rivalry. But I'm not going to shy away from it because that isn't the person I am. I don't think it's fair to me or any of the lads."
"I was going to say something rude then. Or something sexual, But that's something The Wanted would say."
(x)
In an interview with The Mirror in early November, The Wanted suggested having a boxing match with One Direction (x). After laughing at Louis' print interview and commenting "she looks beautiful", Max declares in the video: "Why don’t we just have a boxing match? Pick out of a hat, one each against each and let's do it! And afterwards we’ll go for a pint and be friends."
They further mention that at first the two bands just had little digs at each other, and that they were suddenly made out to be the bad guys, when they were the ones that stopped mentioning them in interviews. Nathan mentions that everything is all blown out of proportion.
On November 9th, an article was also posted that said The Wanted didn’t earn nearly as much money as One Direction (x). The boys were quoted as saying that they had helped pave the way and that they were jumping on the bandwagon. When asked about the feud Max said that “I don’t think they have anything to be upset about, they are absolutely smashing it,” and Tom stated “They are the biggest band in the world.”
On November 20th, 2012, a sudden Twitter argument between Zayn and Max erupted, causing a huge amount of articles to be written on the subject. Both bands were set to appear on the Jingle Ball on December 7th. The argument started with Max tweeting a picture of him with Usher (x) and at first seemed no more than banter. It quickly became more serious, with other members of both bands weighing in. For a list of all the tweets, look here (x) or here (x).
On November 27th, Max explained the twitter argument with Zayn, claiming that he had thought that it was just banter at first, and that he wasn’t sure what Zayn’s problem was (x). On December 4th an article was posted that claimed that the twitter argument had been caused by Max flirting with Perrie on the Xtra Factor (x).
At the Jingle Ball, Siva said that they would be better than One Direction (x), but Max surprisingly stated that he thought One Direction would be better.
The Wanted’s third album was originally due to be released on December 3rd. In November, the boys pushed the release date back to February 2013, citing that they wanted to perfect the tracks. In July 2013 they admitted that the third album had been ‘rubbish’ and that’s why they had scrapped it, opting to rewrite (x).
On January 4th, 2013, an article was posted that stated that The Wanted had claimed they were the ‘coolest’ boyband, and that they had accused One Direction of copying them (x). However, the article doesn’t post quotes that literally say this, they do say that they believe they are the blueprint for the new generation of boybands who don’t dance.
In April 2013 there was yet another Twitter fight, this time between Louis and Tom Parker (x). After Louis mentioned The Wanted during one of their shows (x), Tom took to Twitter to respond on April 7th, and among other tweets, wrote: “@Louis_Tomlinson I’ll enjoy the press even more when you come clean #narnia #itgetsbetter”.
The BensonTheWanted account weighed in on the matter too, tweeting: @louis_tomlinson anyway, enough of this, lets talk about#Larry #pahahahahaha. This tweet has since been deleted but was retweeted by other users (x) and can also be found on favstar (x).
In an interview with Today Network in May, The Wanted mention the feud with One Direction (x) saying that it was just a rivalry for the charts, and Jay mentions that “it’s kind of fake” but that “a few of the lads have wound me up”. When asked if they would have beers with them, Max says “I don’t mind a couple of them. A couple of them are alright. The other three, especially two, are-” (and then gets cut off by the interviewer). He continues by saying that he doesn’t mind Harry, based on what he’s read. Jay says that “he has retained manners, and a bit of dignity as well” and later mentions that they are sometimes kept apart on award shows, and that they could probably clear this out within ten minutes if they were left alone.
On May 29th 2013, The Wanted appeared on Chelsea Lately to promote their upcoming reality show, set to debut on June 2nd (x). When asked what they feel about other boybands, like One Direction, the crowd reacts, and the interviewer asks if there’s a feud, if they hate them. Siva says that “hate is a strong word” while Max says that there seems to be an issue (with Siva pointing at Max while he says this), and that it’s not just him, despite Siva’s pointing. “It’s mainly me, but it’s not all me,” he clarifies, “there’s a few questions that need to be asked I think, to a couple of them, I’m suspicious of one of his reasons.” When Jay remarks “I’m confused now,” Max continues by saying “I think it’s him who’s confused.” The interviewer asks if he means Jay or one of the members of One Direction, and Max says “Yeah, one of those guys. But they’re alright, you know. I think, I think definitely a couple of them are really sound and the others are .. alright.” When the interview ends, the interviewer reminds people that they can pre-order their new single, Walks Like Rihanna, which was due out on June 23rd.
According to this article, posted on May 30th (x) The Wanted also visited “Katie” and Max George had this to say about the feud: "There's been a bit of Twitter arguing and that sort of stuff, because we're so mature. There's a little bit of bad feeling with a couple of the boys from another band. That's about as far as I'm going to go with it. We haven't seen them to actually talk face to face, but we'd like to at some point because I'm sure underneath all the front and the b****iness they're actually pretty nice people. I've yet to see it."
On May 31st, while still doing promo for their reality show, The Wanted was interviewed by Andy Cohen, and was asked a series of rapid-fire questions. One of the questions was “Which member of One Direction is most likely to come out of the closet first?” to which Max immediately answers “Louis” (x).
On June 2nd they once again stated that they would be happy to settle their issues with One Direction in a boxing match (x).
On June 4th a picture made the rounds on Twitter with the boys from The Wanted making rude signs next to a One Direction poster (x)
June 7th, One Direction responded to the boxing idea, saying that they are too busy, and that Zayn had already offered Max to fight but that Max didn’t want to. Louis was reported as saying that it was all bullshit and that The Wanted didn’t live up to their word, and that he was getting bored by the argument (x). The article also mentions that they met on the X-factor and that they got along back then, with Louis admitting that he even looked up to them.
On June 10th Max George was quoted as saying that The Wanted could beat One Direction when it comes to singing (x). He said “Absolutely, yeah. Physically maybe not, but vocally? No worries”. The same day there was also an article posted that had him denying that he turned down a fight with Zayn (x), while on the same day Max said this, Jay had said that he wanted a truce with One Direction (x). UnrealityTV notes in their article that
“We can’t help but wonder if The Wanted are keen to bring all the feud talk to an end now, because they’ve finished promoting their new reality TV show and have no need for the extra publicity now. It all seems very coincidental.”
On July 16th, an article was posted that claimed One Direction was making fun of The Wanted in their new video for Best Song Ever (x)
On July 19th Harry was asked about the feud in an interview with Ryan Seacrest (x). He was asked if everything was okay with them and The Wanted, since it seemed that things had heated up again. Harry responded “Did it? I have no idea.”
On July 26th fans started a rumor that Max called Liam gay, which no evidence has been found for, and Max tweeted and then deleted (x) in response. He then later tweeted (x) (x) implying that the rumors were false.
Conclusion: Though at some point the feud could have been used for publicity (mainly around The Wanted’s promotion for their upcoming reality show), it seems that it started out merely as a rivalry. At some point, however, the feud seems to have become a lot more personal, mainly between Max and Zayn, Louis and Tom and Louis and Max. Although we can’t prove who is behind the BensonTheWanted account, we did prove that it is in fact an actual account associated with the boys, and such, should be taken into consideration when looking at the feud. The account continues to tweet things in response to One Direction (x)(x) so it is possible that the feud will be sparked up again in the future.
When researching our post about Lucy Horobin (x), we found that the timeline overlapped with one of Harry Styles’ most famous relationships (also the one that gave him an image of liking older women). So we decided that Caroline Flack would be our next Harry Styles: the “womanizer” post. (masterpost can be found here (x))
When they were linked, Harry was 17 and Caroline Flack was a 32 year old host of Xtra. Since the affair happened late 2011, details tend to be forgotten, so we've done some digging. Warning: this is a very long and detailed post: it is a timeline of the months of September 2011 up until January 2012 and establishing connections to important dates for the One Direction boys. A massive thank you to bulletprooflarry for giving us a framework for this post!
According to this (x) article published on July 19th, 2013, Caroline was introduced to Harry by Lou Teasdale, One Direction’s hairdresser, and her twin sister Sam. It is possible that this is true, however, there are several other people who could have introduced Harry and Caroline, as you can read below.
It was confirmed Caroline Flack would be the new Xtra host for season eight of the X-Factor on May 31st, 2011. (x) Season 8 ran from August 20th until December 11th, 2011.
Her first public interaction with One Direction was with Louis, when she tweeted him after they met on June 29th, 2011 as Louis visited the X-factor. (x) Her first public interaction including Harry was also on Twitter when she tweeted “Watching one direction in chattyman... Is Harry styles the cutest thing you've ever seen?” (x) to which Louis responded “@carolineflack1 You don't know how happy this will make Harry hahaa” (x) on July 29th, 2011.
Harry told X Factor website that Caroline was gorgeous, on August 16th, 2011 (x). This was three days before the video premiere of What Makes You Beautiful (x).
SEPTEMBER
The next public interaction Harry would have with Caroline is once again via twitter and was nearly two months later on September 20th when he tweeted her “@carolineflack1 @thisistimdean it's too late.. #yourmumwouldloveme” (x) in response to this tweet Caroline sent: “@ThisisTimDean @harry_styles Ha! Don't lead him astray Tim Dean....” (x). This tweet came after Tim Dean (a producer on the Xtra Factor (x)) tweeted Caroline “@carolineflack1 I really think you should consider dating @Harry_Styles he’s oh so handsome + charismatic and defo not sat next to me now!” and “He’s looking particularly handsome flack! The curls are out in force #yourmumwouldlovehim.” Nowmagazine wrote an article based on the tweets (x) but the actual tweet has since been deleted (x).
In the same week, Dare To Dream: Life as One Direction was released, on September 15th (x).
OCTOBER
This (x) article claims they kissed at the W Hotel Bar on October 16th, 2011, at what was later claimed to be a X Factor party (x) after the result show from the liveshows. The article says that Harry then sent out a tweet, saying “Sometimes things happen and you suddenly get a whole new outlook on life”. This tweet, however, was posted on the 15th of October (x).
Around this time, Gotta Be You also had its debut on the radio, on October 19th (x).
The article further mentions tweets from Caroline (x) and Harry (x) on the 22nd of October, referencing sore throats and using this as proof that they have kissed. Multiple articles used these tweets as proof of the kiss that happened on October 16th, although another explanation for them both being sick could be that Caroline and Harry supposedly saw each other on October 21st, at a dinner at the Teasdales. Harry tweeted a thanks to Lou Teasdale, Tom Atkin and Val Teasdale, saying “thanks for having me last night, @VALteasdale unbelievable stew” (x), not mentioning Caroline, who later responded to the tweet and said “@Harry_Styles @louteasdale @tomatkin @VALteasdale we ate the same stew... People will talk. :)” (x).
Funnily enough, an article that came out in December claimed that October 22nd was the date Harry and Caroline first hooked up (x), citing the sore throat rumors as proof. Harry was at his childhood home in Manchester on this date, and was pictured with his sister Gemma and a few fans. (x)
Nick Grimshaw, a friend of both Harry and Caroline, also made fun of the dating rumors when he tweeted Caroline about One Direction (x) (x) on the night of the 24th/25th of October. Before this point, neither Caroline nor Harry had commented on the rumors.
In fact, October 24th was the first time Harry was outright asked about the rumors. In response to the interviewer’s question “Well, I heard that you went out partying, and a certain Harry ends up kissing Caroline Flack. Is this true?” Harry replies “Um..” and while someone in the background says “Yes” he says “No,” to which the person in the background repeats “No.” Harry then explains “It’s not. It was a bit .. it was a bit misconstrued. It wasn’t like that, no.” The boys tease him about this, and the interviewer asks “Do you at least have a crush on her?” to which Harry replies “Yes, she’s lovely, she’s a very nice lady, she’s really hot” which makes Niall laugh (x).
Also on the 24th, a picture of Caroline, Harry and two others was uploaded to a One Direction blog (x), the source for this is unclear, some say it was first posted on Harry’s twitter, but it seems to be from the X-factor party on October 16th. The picture is frequently cropped to just Harry and Caroline and used in articles as evidence that Harry and Caroline dated. [examples: (x) (x)]
On October 31st, Louis Walsh asked Caroline about One Direction on the Xtra Factor (x). He asks “What’s this about you and One Direction?” and Caroline replies “I’ve no idea what you’re going on about Louis, but moving on..”. X-factor judge Tulisa jumps in and says “That’s not true, leave her alone.”
NOVEMBER
On November 1st, Star printed an article that claimed Anne wanted Caroline to stay away from her son (x). A transcript of it can be found here (x), some interesting things in the article are that Caroline was mentioned getting back together with her ex (“Although Caroline is recently said to have rekindled her relationship with her ex-boyfriend”) and saying it was a one time ordeal (“However, Anne needn’t fret too much, as according to sources, Caroline insists the tryst was a one-off.”). It also states that Harry is single (“So, girls, Harry’s still very much single. Go get him!”)
November 4th, an article was posted that claimed Caroline was embarrassed by what had been a drunk kiss with Harry (x).
On November 5th, it was announced that Simon Cowell asked One Direction and JLS to join the X-factor contestants on a charity single (x), the proceeds going to ACT & Children's Hospices UK.
November 7th, an article was posted that claimed Caroline wanted to stay just friends with Harry (x) and that the judges from the X-factor regularly tease her about Harry.
November 8th, the Gotta Be You video premiered on Youtube (x).
On November 9th, Louis tweeted a happy birthday to Caroline, which is also the last tweet he ever sent her (x). Harry also tweeted her happy birthday (x), saying “Happy birthday babes. Have a good day xx”
November 11th, Gotta Be You premiered in Ireland.
On November 12th, the day before the boys were set to appear on the X-factor and thus the Xtra Factor, Harry retweeted a girl who said that Caroline had a man-like posture, and Louis retweeted another girl who replied to Harry, having added “wernt saying that when you were trying to get into her.” (x)
On November 13th, Louis retweeted a girl who told him to make it awkward between Harry and Caroline that evening (x):
Harry tweets “I hope @carolineflack1 likes my shoes today...” (x) to which Caroline replies “I’m worried that I won’t, could be awkward...” (x). The boys appear on the X-factor, and in an interview, Louis says that Harry loves a different Caroline (than Caroline Watson, who styled them for the evening) (x) (at 2:14) (x). They also appear on the Xtra Factor and have an interview with Olly Murs and Caroline (x). Harry brings Olly a bouquet of flowers, and when little introductions show up on the screen along with the boys’ names, Harry’s says “popular with the older ladies” (just for reference, Zayn’s says ‘in the membrane’, Niall’s said ‘him to a post’, Liam’s said ‘what makes him beautiful?’ and Louis’ says ‘not to be confused with Louis Walsh’)
When Harry’s asked which of the girls’ (contestants on this years X-factor) he fancies most, Louis answers “Caroline!”. Harry then says that they’re all “a bit young for him.” Later on, he says that the Xtra Factor is amazing (7:20) and Louis teases him about being distracted.
They also mention the charity single that One Direction was scheduled to do with the X-factor finalists and JLS. This single, called Wishing on a Star, was released on November 20th (x).
November 13th is also the release date of Gotta Be You in the UK.
November 14th, articles appeared about the awkward reunion on the Xtra Factor (x), which comments on how Louis Walsh and Louis Tomlinson made the encounter extra awkward. The article states that “While Harry admitted he had been waiting for the kiss to be brought up, the audience erupted into cheering and whooping.” In the actual video, Harry does say “I was waiting” but that was after Olly asked him who he fancied from the X-factor contestants and Louis interrupted by saying Caroline.
November 15th, 2011, OK magazine printed an article (x) with quotes about Caroline’s bad breath, and Louis saying “I’d marry Caroline and Harry would be my best man.” (x) Transcript here: (x). This also features Harry saying he’d take her to McDonalds for a date.
On the same date, Harry and Caroline had a ‘romantic dinner’ at St. Martin’s Lane Hotel (x) with two other friends. The article also mentions that Louis had said, the week before, that Harry had found ‘the one’, and it mentions the McDonalds date from OK magazine. The Daily Mail also wrote an article about the dinner, but seemed to insinuate that the previously mentioned cropped picture from October was evidence of an intimate dinner. (x)
November 16th, Caroline tweets that she really fancies Grimmy (x) which Harry retweets.
November 17th, 2011, Caroline tweets that she’s close friends with Harry (x). On the same day, an article is posted that claims Harry posted a picture on Twitter that has him holding a sign that says “To Flackster, never too old, let’s make it happen. Lots of love, Harry Styles.” (x) It seems that if this was in fact a real tweet, it’s since been deleted. Another article wonders if ‘Haroline’ is real or just a showmance (x).
Around the same date, articles were posted, both online and offline, about Caroline getting death threats (x)
On November 18th, Up All Night was released in several countries. In the UK, the album was released on November 21st.
On November 20th, OK! Magazine reports that Caroline asked Harry to move in with her (x). They quote a tweet from Harry from October 15th, the day before they were first seen together, as though it’s a response to Caroline asking him to move in. Another article reports that Caroline denied the story on Twitter (x).
This Sugarscape interview, from November 21st, discusses Harry moving in with Caroline (x). When Harry is asked about that, Harry replies “Did you know, I did not know anything about this, right, and then my mum, I got a text from my mum, I didn’t know you were moving, and I was like what.. I don’t know. I have no idea where this comes from. No idea.”
On November 22nd, it was announced that One Direction signed a deal with Columbia Records in the US (x), and were planning to tour America in February and March. Also on November 22nd, an article came out that claimed Olly Murs had put in a good word for Harry (x), that Harry kept texting him how hot Caroline was, and that Harry insisted that they were just good friends.
On the 23rd of November, the Sun reported that Harry had told their interviewer that he was not really in a relationship (x). “Asked if it’s hard having a relationship while in the band, he said in a surly tone: “I wouldn’t know what it’s like trying to keep a relationship together ’cos I’m not really in one. Ask Liam!”
The 25th, the boys were on the Late Late show in Ireland (x). Of course, Harry was asked about being linked to Caroline. He says “We’re just really good friends. We just get on so well. She’s, she’s a really nice person, so.. we get on really well.” The host tries to confirm that there’s nothing more going on by asking “So, just good friends?” and Harry then says “Who knows, we’ll see what happens.” He makes an ‘oops’ face and then says, “I mean, yes, I mean yes!”.
The boys also did an interview with Muzu on that day (x). When asked to describe their ultimate date. Harry says he’d take Caroline Flack for dinner and a movie. The interviewer asks if he’s been out with her, and he says “We hang out sometimes yeah. We’re good friends. We’ve had dinner before, but it wasn’t just us. There were others, there were other people there.”
DECEMBER
On December 5th, Harry was papped leaving Caroline’s house early in the morning. (x) The “walk of shame” was on the cover of the Sun on December 7th (x), and Caroline tweeted, “Front of the sun newspaper is amazing today! You can get free chips if you go to TESCO! I'm off...” (x)
On December 7th, the Up All Night album release dates for the US are announced.
On the 8th, Caroline was papped going to Harry and Louis’ flat with a pillow, and is papped leaving at 11am (x) She was also wearing a teddy bear hat, which was seen in this picture of them. (x)
Caroline was also on Daybreak on the 8th where she was asked if she’s in love with Harry, she responds “No.” and laughs. She continues on to say “He’s really nice. He’s a lot younger than me, which some people say is a bit strange, but you know what, he’s a really nice guy, and we have a lot of fun hanging out together.” (x). Articles left out the part where she responds no, and quote her as saying ‘we have a lot of fun together’ (x).
There continued to be a series of odd articles about their supposed relationship; one where Caroline said that if she had a baby, she’d name it Harry, but then backtracked and said that was weird.(x) And one that claimed they were going to spend a “dirty weekend” away. (x) (No weekend was ever reported on or mentioned publicly.) And on Nevermind The Buzzcocks on the 14th, Caroline immediately says “No.” and laughs when asked if she is going to marry Harry Styles. (x)
Now magazine interviewed One Direction in a print interview on December 16th, when Harry was asked who he would like to kiss under the mistletoe, he responded “Carol...Vorderman!” and when asked ‘Really? Not Caroline Flack?’, he laughed and said “Nah, definitely Carol Vorderman.” (x)
On December 18th, the boys kicked off the Up All Night tour with a show at the Watford Colosseum.
On December 19th, Sugarscape posts an article which quotes Olly Murs as saying that nothing about the relationship is concrete, and that ‘everyone tweets what they want but no one knows the inside truth - that’s private.’ He’s also quoted as saying ‘Harry is a good looking lad and most girls in this country would want to snog him.’ (x)
On December 22nd, an article is posted that reveals Caroline dropped Harry off before the first show (x). The article from December 22nd also cites that Harry and Caroline met on the Xtra Factor performance.
In a radio interview held on December 22nd, due to be aired at the start of 2012 (x), Harry confirms that he is single (x). The interviewer asks “Well, I obviously have to ask about love lives and things that are going on so can we go around the group?” Niall says he’s single, Louis and Liam say they’re not single, and after Zayn answers that he’s single, Harry says “I’m Harry, hello … hi .. hi. I’m single.” (x)
Ironically, on December 23rd, Harry confirms that he’s dating Caroline, at least according to the Mirror (x). According to this article, he immediately backtracks, jokes that he’s dating Louis instead, and then is quoted as saying “I don’t really want to talk about my private life but I’m happy. We’re good friends.”
On December 25th, an article is posted that references some tweets from Caroline Flack (x), saying she bought Harry a car, and that they were spending Christmas together. However, googling for the content of the tweets shows that they were likely sent from this fake Caroline account (x).
Around this time, Now Magazine previews their cover for January 2012, on sale from December 27th, that has a cover which claims Caroline states she needs space (x). Apparently she wants to escape from the hate she’s been getting, and wants some time away, somewhere warm and sunny, with a group of mates (x) so she can rest and relax.
JANUARY
Sometime before New Year’s, Caroline left for India with a group of friends (x), but she and Harry skyped on New Year’s.
On January 2nd, Now magazine reported that Harry had been crying when Caroline told him she was leaving for India (x). The cover for the January 2012 magazine, which stated that Caroline needed space, was about this article.
On January 3rd, the first article is posted that claims Caroline broke up with Harry (x)
On January 6th, One Thing is released as the new single.
On January 11th, Caroline returned from India (x)(x) and immediately attended the One Direction concert at the Hammersmith Apollo that evening (x). Some articles state that she enjoyed the show and danced to Gotta Be You (6th on the set list (x)) while others claimed that she arrived just as the gig was finishing (x).
The Mirror posted an article on January 13th that is based on the fact that Caroline was seen wearing a bracelet that matches the one Harry has worn before (x). They say that the bracelet has been missing from Harry’s wrist since Caroline returned from India, then post a picture of Harry performing at the Hammersmith Apollo, not wearing the bracelet, and use this as proof that he gave the bracelet to Caroline. However, it appeared that they didn’t meet up until after the show.
On the same day, the music video for One Thing premieres on Youtube (x).
According to the Mirror, Caroline went to meet Harry’s mother and stepfather on the weekend of the 14th and 15th of January (x). The same weekend, Harry also reportedly met Caroline’s family (x). Harry performed in Glasgow on the 14th (x) and Liverpool on the 15th (x) for the Up All Night tour (x). They also had another show in Glasgow on the 13th.
Sugarscape posts an article about Harry being a good boyfriend on the 17th of January, mentioning that he is head over heels for her (or so an unnamed source says) and has bought her numerous gifts (x). The original source for this article is Now Magazine (x) (x).
January 25th, Now Magazine posts an article about Caroline’s response to a fan asking if they were going to move in together. (x) Her reply is “oh. My. Lord! Haha” (x).
On January 26th, One Direction finishes their UK tour in Belfast.
On January 27th, Harry tweets about about breaking up with Caroline: “Please know I didn't 'dump' caroline. This was a mutual decision. She is one of the kindest, sweetest people I know. Please respect that.” (x).
On the same day, One Direction is confirmed to appear on ICarly (x).
After the breakup, articles were posted, claiming that the relationship ended because Caroline wanted something more serious (x - originally posted January 28th), though some also questioned whether Harry broke up with Caroline to look more clean cut for the American market (x). Rumors came into the press after the break up, stating that Harry felt pressured to break up with Caroline but that the romance was far from over (x).
LATER
Though articles still appear now and then about Harry and Caroline (mostly when Harry is linked to yet another older woman), there hasn’t been much that is noteworthy to report. One article that is relevant, however, is the one posted in August 2012, when Caroline did an interview with Look magazine. In it, she is quoted as saying “With the whole Harry situation, about 95% of what was written was false.” (x)
Conclusion: The main conclusion that can be drawn from researching this relationship is that information in print articles should definitely not be taken as the truth. We've come across a lot of articles that claim the wrong date (October 22nd as the start of their relationship), that contradict each other (articles about Caroline at the One Direction concert in January) and that misquote Harry or Caroline. Furthermore, a lot of articles are based on anonymous sources. Though we can’t know for sure what went on, when looking at what Harry and Caroline have actually said, it doesn't seem like this relationship was quite the romance that the media made it out to be. In fact, the only time either of them confirmed a relationship, instead of denying it, was in Harry's January 27th tweet, when he told fans that he didn't dump Caroline. It’s also noteworthy that the relationship ‘ran its course’ right when the boys finished up their UK tour and were preparing to head out to America. All in all, whether or not there was any truth to the media's version of this relationship, the correlation between public Harry/Caroline outings and important One Direction events suggests a definite PR side to this relationship.
For our Harry Styles: The Womanizer posts, the masterpost of which you can find here (x), we’ve recently decided to look into the relationship between Harry and Lucy Horobin.
For those of you who don’t know who Lucy Horobin is, Harry was linked to her when he was 17, before he became involved with Caroline Flack (x). She was a radio DJ, who was, at the time of the affair, married to Oliver Pope.
They met in August 2011, when One Direction appeared on the Manchester station Key 103 (x). According to this article, they met again a month later (x) for an interview, on September 14th (x). The Sunday Mirror claims that the two soon spent a night together at a Manchester hotel.
This article (x) claims that they slept together on her birthday, which is October 17th (x). It also says that they first slept together three weeks beforehand, which means around the 25th of September. Oliver states “Then on the Wednesday she told me she didn’t want to be with me any more. Just like that, out of the blue, she said she no longer loved me.” . The article mentions that Lucy hooked up with Harry, for the first time, three days later, which would make it a Saturday. According to the interview, Lucy booked a hotel in Manchester, slept with Harry when he visited her around 2 AM, then came home. If his timeline is correct, that means that Harry slept with Lucy on the 25th of September. From the 25th to the 29th, the boys were at Lake Placid, NY, to film the “Gotta Be You” video. Before that, they were signing in Westfield’s in London on the 24th (x) and performing in Leeds (x) on the 23rd.
On the 17th of October, the night of Lucy’s birthday, when she supposedly checked into a hotel to sleep with Harry, Harry attended an Ed Sheeran concert (x) in Manchester with Louis (x)(x).
Interestingly, an article came out about a week later, saying that Harry had first kissed Caroline Flack on October 16th (x). Some articles claim that Harry started seeing Caroline shortly after the fling with Lucy ended (x)(x) whereas others report that Harry was still seeing Lucy in December, well after he started seeing Caroline in October (x). Lucy reportedly also hooked up with Rizzle Kick’s Harley (x) after his album launch on the 31st of October.
The news of Harry’s fling with Lucy broke on June 24th, 2012, with this article in the Sunday Mirror (x). It was soon picked up by other tabloids, all quoting anonymous sources. In some articles, sources are named as being friends of either Lucy (x)(x) or Oliver (x), while others claim to have spoken to people close to Harry (x). For an explanation on how trustworthy anonymous sources are, read our post on credible sources here (x)
Lucy declined to comment on the story, tweeting: “To clarify, I haven't said ANYTHING to any press, nor do I wish to. Thank you to those of you who have said kind words today. Xxx.”. (x) Due to hate she received from One Direction fans, she later deleted her Twitter, but there is a back-up of the tweet here (x).
In August, it was reported that Lucy and Oliver were filing for divorce. While a lot of articles immediately linked it to the affair with Harry, it was also claimed that a spokesperson said:
"Over the past few weeks both Lucy and her husband have agreed to end their marriage and decided to go their separate ways. The split has nothing to do with recent speculation and they would request their privacy is maintained through this difficult time."
(x)
This is in direct contradiction to the only article that has a named source, an interview with Oliver Pope, posted on October 28th, 2012 (x). In this article he claims that what had happened between Harry and Lucy ended their marriage. An earlier article, citing things he supposedly said to a friend, stated that the affair had at first in fact caused their relationship to become stronger (x), because it had forced them to face up to the cracks in their relationship, but that they were eventually unable to bear the stress from the whole situation.
Conclusion: While articles had been published from June 24th on, neither Harry, nor Lucy or Oliver had commented on the story, leaving every story to quote unnamed sources, claiming to be friends with the people involved. Even after Lucy and Oliver filed for divorce, neither of them commented on the situation, up until October 28th, 2012, a full year after the events of the story, and after things had calmed down and people had stopped talking about it. As you can read, there are parts in his story that don’t match up to the timelines we know are correct. The timing of his interview, and the fact that some parts of his story are highly specific, yet prove to be false, severely discredits the story. Whether something actually happened between Lucy and Harry is up for debate, but the idea that Harry is a womanizer shouldn’t be based on articles like these.
Because it isn’t always easy to distinguish between what is real and what is just a rumor, and because we put a lot of effort into trying to debunk certain rumors in the fandom, we decided to take a moment and step away from particular rumors to address sources.
Not every source is credible, and some sources are more credible than others. We will address sources from two angles:
1: the media, i.e. print sources (specifically anonymous sources), celebrity quotes
2: the fandom, i.e. truth blogs, twitter
Media Sources
Print sources
When it comes to celebrity news, print sources are often unreliable. Ranging from online articles to magazines in stores, information in these articles can be heavily manipulated or sensationalized, and frequently, to get news out as fast as possible, articles are written without the writer checking the facts:
One such example is an article from The Mirror, claiming that Harry had spent the night with a lap dancer, and was out of control. The Mirror later issued a formal apology about the article, when it was revealed to be untrue (x).
Earlier that year, The Sun also issued an apology, after they falsely claimed that Harry had kissed and flirted with an interviewer, when they later revealed that nothing more than ‘the usual round of showbiz pecks’ had happened (x).
Often, articles rely on anonymous sources. In some cases, as we’ve shown earlier in our post about Kimberly Stewart (x), these sources blatantly contradict each other. While Harry was seen with Taylor Swift, many unnamed sources claimed that they were completely loved up, unable to stop touching one another. An actual named source contradicted this story, saying that she hadn’t had the sense that they were a couple (x).
Why would media use anonymous sources at all? In most cases, it is because without an anonymous source, there is no story to tell. When it comes to anonymous sources, there are four guidelines for whether or not an anonymous source should be allowed as the basis for an article:
1: The story should be ‘of overwhelming public concern’ i.e. very important
2: The story cannot possibly be written without this source, and the source is unwilling to go on the record
3: The source must have information that is verified, that you know to be true
4: It must be revealed why the source chooses to stay anonymous
(x)
If a writer can’t meet these guidelines, they should not be using anonymous sources. However, a lot of media still do. Why? Because articles sell. Because everyone wants to be the first, to have a scoop. Because most of the time, there are no repercussions for writing something that later proves to be untrue. There doesn’t even have to be a source that wants to stay anonymous. Writers can put anything in quotation marks and claim an anonymous source told them.
Celebrity Quotes
When celebrities make statements in articles, it doesn’t necessarily mean that those are the celebrity’s actual thoughts and feelings either. Or, as Demi Lovato said, ‘just because it’s put in quotation marks, doesn’t mean I said it’ (x).
Another example is this article about Harry Styles and Taylor Swift, where Nick Grimshaw allegedly said that Harry really liked Taylor (x). Soon after the article was posted, Nick called out the writer on Twitter (x).
In some cases old quotes are used in quite another context. For example, Louis once talked about people sending Twitter hate to Eleanor, and said “It’s really strange and the majority (of fans) don’t have hate towards her… It gets a little frustrating seeing that, especially when I’m in a happy relationship. But at the end of the day, I am happy and Eleanor is happy, so there’s not really that much more that matters.” (x)
This quote has been brought up in other articles, in reference to Larry shippers, as you can see below:
What started as a joke now causes frustration for Louis. “At first it was funny, but it gets a little frustrating seeing that especially when I’m in a happy relationship,” he adds. (x)
The boys themselves are very aware of how things are often taken out of context, as you can see in this interview at around 1:44 (x). When asked about something Max from The Wanted had said about One Direction, Louis answers “Things are often taken out of context, and I don’t know if that is what he said. I mean.. We kind of .. we get on with those boys so I don’t know, it’d be a funny thing if that is what he said.”
Fan Sources
Truth Blogs
When it comes to Truth Blogs, there are a few important things to remember:
Tumblr is not a huge website. Tumblr is not a site that reaches all One Direction fans. If an insider wanted to give information about the boys, or from the boys, simply because they wanted fans to learn the truth, Tumblr is not a good platform.
If someone wanted to give information that the boys would not want us to know, and thus go against their wishes, they would do so through a tabloid or website like Perez, where they would get money for their story.
There haven’t been blogs that have been proven real, but there have been plenty of truth blogs proven to be false. For example, letlarrylive, a blog that pretended to be an (ex) Modest employee. It was revealed later on to be a journalist, writing an article about Larry shippers (x).
Another blog that recently came clean was 1ddeats, the URL is now taken by someone else, but before it was passed on to the current owner, the last message of the blog read:
“I’m 21 years old and I live in London my friend is OBSESSED with One Direction and I always said they would believe anything if I said I had a ‘source’ guess what? I was right. Now the reason I’m saying this now is I answered someone’s question about ‘lieing’ and now she has gone and published it to her blog. So I may aswell come out and say, I don’t like One Direction nor do I hate them. All ‘emails’ were just edited.
But I think this blog just goes to show that you do believe anything. Deleting this blog by tonight.”
Fake Blogs/Twitters
There have been blogs pretending to be the boys, too, which can actually turn out to be harmful. In one case, the person claiming to be Harry actually ended up helping people who came to her with problems (x), but there has also been an arrest of a 45-year-old man who posed as Harry online in order to get underage girls to send him nudes and perform sexual acts (x). A few more blogs that recently revealed themselves as, or were revealed to be, fake are thecamerasdontknowme (x) (fake Louis), hiwhatsthecraic (fake Niall), aintthatbatman (fake Liam) (x) and wedonthavelong (another fake Harry).
It isn’t just limited to the boys, or Tumblr, either. There are plenty of Twitter accounts that seem even credible to the media. One such example is Zayn’s mother’s twitter (x), that plenty of media wrote about after she defended her son. However, the account has since been suspended (x), and Zayn’s sisters have said that Trisha doesn’t have a Twitter account (x)(x)(x)(x)(x) and that the account that tweeted those things the media picked up on is fake (x)(x)(x). Doniya and Waliyha’s twitter accounts are followed by Zayn.
Then there is the case of Alberto Alvarez, who is an actual bodyguard for the boys (x). For a while, people believed that the Alvarez_499 account on twitter was his. He posted pictures of the boys that seemed to have no source elsewhere on the internet (though how-do-you-whisk found out that wasn’t exactly true (x)) and frequently tweeted them. Soon enough, though, this account came clean too (x).
In conclusion: It’s not very likely that blogs actually have insiders sharing info with them. It’s also not very likely that you’ll encounter the real Harry or any of the other boys on Tumblr. It’s proven easy enough to fake evidence (also see our previous post on Twitter DM’s here (x)) or to pretend to be someone else online.
Similarly, just because something is printed in a magazine doesn’t mean it’s true. Words that are presumably directly from the celebrity’s mouth can be false or taken out of context. Anonymous sources can be made up and should not be trusted unless the writer of the article can verify the information through another source.
Television and video sources are, in general, much more reliable, though celebrities are still being managed by their PR team when it comes to interviews and the like. Questions can be rehearsed or prompted to be answered in a certain way, as most celebrities will have undergone media training, and PR teams often pre-screen interviews. Here, too, statements can be taken out of context due to editing or cutting parts of an interview, so the most reliable sources would be those that can’t be edited, such as livestreams. Ultimately, there’s nothing you can trust more than your own eyes and brain.
Louis Tomlinson just DMed us! (Or: how easy is it to fake DMs?)
Every once in awhile, Tumblr and Twitter explode over DM’s that fans have received from members of One Direction. June 5th 2013 was one of these dates; apparently, Louis unfollowed twitter user @nourryspubes after she sent him a DM about one of his tattoos. Before that, she had DMed him about Larry, as you can see below:
(x)
When people quickly claimed the DM was fake, she posted a video to prove that it was real (x) and let an update account on her Twitter to verify that it was indeed a real DM (x) (x). They said they clicked on the icon to see if it was really Louis Tomlinson who sent her the DM (x). You can’t do that on the website, but it is possible to do that through the Twitter app, however the screenshot from their account seems to come from a computer. The person who originally posted the DM stated that other accounts have logged onto her Twitter too (x) (x) (x).
There have been other people saying they have received DM’s from the boys (x) (x) (x) (x) (x).
The question is, is this DM real? At first sight, it seems to be. The Twitter handle is there, there are pictures to prove that the DM’s were sent. Does that mean this one is real, and all the others are too?
As you can see above (x) and here (x) and here (x), DM’s can most certainly be faked. Prolarry even made a video a few months ago, that shows just how easily DM’s can be faked:
We even did our own little test:
And, of course, since videos are harder to fake, we decided to put Louis_Tomlinson to work in that regard too:
Conclusion: We can’t say that this DM is definitely fake. However, seeing as it is quite easy to fake DM’s, you shouldn’t just believe every screenshotted/videoed DM is real, either.
A few weeks ago, on April 25th, Harry was seen out to dinner with Rod Stewart, his wife, and one of his daughters.
In addition to dinner, Rod Stewart played a short set at the Troubadour, showcasing numbers from his new album, that was set to be released on May 7th (x). As was later revealed, the show was directed by Cal Aurand:
(x)
According to the first reports, 25-year-old Ruby Stewart was the daughter Harry was seen with during and after dinner (x), and she was quickly dubbed his girl after this tweet was posted (x). Multiple articles were written about how Harry and Ruby were spotted kissing and holding hands (x) (x).
However, it later became clear that it wasn’t Ruby Stewart, but her older sister Kimberly (x). Videos were subsequently posted of Harry picking up Kimberly (x) and the family out to dinner (x).
The next day, articles appeared about how Kimberly Stewart was exactly Harry’s type (x) and how he has had a crush on her for a long time (x). Some articles stated that it was an unnamed mutual friend that introduced them, while others claimed it was her father, Rod (x). It was also said that Rod Stewart approves of his daughter’s relationship with Harry (x).
On this day, April 26th, Harry was also spotted at Starbucks, in Kimberly’s car, after supposedly spending the night at Rod Stewart’s home (x) (x). Paps claimed that Kimberly was with him, however, she’s not visible in any of the pictures that were taken of Harry or the car.
Since then, articles have been written, questioning whether or not Harry and Kimberly are really dating, citing unnamed sources that claimed Harry was flirting with another woman (x) (x) or that the relationship was just for PR (x) (x) (x). One source, supposedly an insider who is very close to the situation, stated “Kimberly and Harry are just friends. Rod (Stewart) really likes Harry, so it’s good PR for him.” There was also a video on Yahoo! directly stating that Rod was just using Harry for PR. (x)
In an interview with Alan Carr (x), that aired on May 17th, Rod Stewart confirmed that Harry had indeed spent the night at their house (x) (x) (x).
Conclusion: It is nearly impossible to prove any relationship is exclusively PR. As far as proof goes, unnamed sources are hardly something to go on, especially when several unnamed sources are contradicting each other. Reports based on anonymous sources have been proven to be incorrect before (x - non-1D related). However, there are definitely PR advantages to this relationship:
- Rod Stewart’s album, Time, was set to release May 7th in the US and Canada, and the 13th in the UK (x). His album reached #1 on the billboards (x) on May 20th (coincidentally, a couple of days after he ‘confirmed’ Kimberly was dating Harry)
- Cal Aurand directed the show Rod Stewart did at the Troubadour
Harry has not been spotted with Kimberly Stewart since. It should also be noted that neither Harry nor Kimberly have ever confirmed or even verbally indicated any sort of private relationship.
Harry Styles "the Womanizer": Camilla Foss/Party bus
Recently, Harry went onto a Norwegian party bus; naturally, lots of rumors about what actually occurred on that party bus started. The biggest rumor was that Harry hooked up with a girl named Camilla Foss. This one isn’t easy to debunk or confirm due to the nature of the rumor, but we have tried to collect as much info on the evening as we could.
Because we couldn’t have a video camera watching Harry’s every move to be absolutely positive he didn’t not hook up with anyone, we have to rely on people who were there. (unfortunately, due to Harry Styles being an international popstar, some twitter accounts of people who were there and could comment are private, presumably not to get bombarded by the One Direction fandom).
1. Harry and Liam
Harry and Liam did a radio interview in Norway after his night on the party bus. When asked “Did you behave?” Harry’s answer was “Absolutely”. Liam even added in “I’d like to vouch for that; I was next door to his room. Didn’t hear a thing.” (x)
2. People who were on the bus
Harry saying that he behaved doesn’t necessarily mean that nothing happened, so we decided to find another source as well. We will link to her twitter and we ask that you don’t bombard her with questions or anything; we’ve linked the important tweets with all the information she had, so it would serve no purpose.
This is a tweet from someone who was on this bus. We know this because she has tweeted pictures of Harry while he was on the bus (x) (x) and others have credited her for the pictures (x).
This problem with this tweet is that it has since been deleted. Fortunately, not before it was retweeted by an update account (x).
She also tweeted this
(x). The media was talking about Harry supposedly kissing Camilla Foss during this time, so it is possible that this is what she was referring to.
Conclusion: We couldn’t find any proof that Harry hooked up with anyone on the party bus, including Camilla Foss. The only sources that have been used in articles are unnamed ones, with the exception of this article by E-online (x), that doesn’t mention anything about a kiss and just says that Harry had a good time on the party bus. There have been tweets from an update account that might explain where some of the rumors came from, as you can read here (x) and (x).
Harry Styles is known in tabloids and by the general population as a “womanizer”; we suspect that this part of his media image is not true to reality and plan to investigate. It’s a large rumor to debunk though, so we plan to do it in parts: by various relationships that tabloids tend to use as ‘proof’ that Harry carelessly uses women. In the posts below, which we will link to once they are made, we will discuss the pr advantages to certain relationships (indicating that Harry was probably not using the women for sex) and whether the relationships or hook-ups existed at all.
The relationships we plan on ‘debunking’ are Harry’s supposed relationships with:
Caroline Flack
Lucy Horobin
Cara Delevingne
Rita Ora
Emma Ostilly
Taylor Swift
Kimberly Stewart
Camilla Foss
Kara Rose Marshall
Rihanna [suggested by anon]
Emily Atack
Like all of our posts, these posts will be edited continuously in case new information comes out.
This is obviously not a complete list of all the women Harry is rumored to have hooked-up with and we encourage you to send us an ask here if you would like us to debunk a rumor of a hook-up/relationship that is not on this list. We plan to do less famous relationship/hook-up rumors as well, so nothing is too small for you to send us! If you have evidence and you would like to send it to us via something that doesn’t have a word limit you can email us here: [email protected].
RUMOR: The boys are the only ones who have access to their twitter
Why are we posting about this? After all, Louis Tomlinson was quite clear on the matter:
(x)
Case closed, you’d think.
However, there are some facts that contradict that statement.
Celebrity twitters are a pretty big deal in today’s online world. Even articles are written based on celebrity tweets, demonstrating just how much they are an important part of a celebrities PR. The general public thinks that all the tweets they read are written by the celebrity personally; those are their words, their ideas and their feelings.
Our PR relationship post shows just one of the ways things can be distorted by the media for publicity; the image of a celebrity is crucial, and with millions of people following their favorite stars on twitter, it has become an important part of what we know about a certain celebrity.
This also means that it’s an easy way to reach out to followers, to influence them and their thoughts. Tweets are quick and public, which means they can do a lot of good for a celebrity, just as they can do a lot of harm. As such, many celebrities will have other people who can access their account, to deny rumors, promote a certain product, or work on their “image”. (Who a celebrities PR wants you to think a celebrity is)
Considering this, it seems a little strange to assume that the only person who has access to the One Direction boys’ accounts are the boys. But rather than assuming things, we went to collect the facts to find out whether or not there are other people that can access the boys’ accounts or influence what is posted.
Fact 1: Tweets have been sent from the wrong account:
Posts that were meant to be tweeted by the official @onedirection account were instead posted on the little mix account:
November 19th 2012 & unknown date:
This in itself doesn’t prove that the boys’ twitters aren’t solely used by the boys itself, but it proves that the boys' management does not only send out tweets for their clients’ accounts, but has mistweeted before. This makes it possible, and even likely, that they have mistweeted on other accounts as well. We’re mentioning this because of the tweet sent out on March 6th, further below.
January 14th, 2013:
Eleanor Calder posted from Louis’ twitter while he was in Ghana (x). He left for Ghana on January 12th, Eleanor posted these tweets from her own account on January 13th (x) (x), then the one above on January 14th from Louis’ account. All tweets were sent by Iphone. (evidence) She claimed that Louis had left his account signed in on her phone:
(x)
This explanation is practically impossible because Louis would have had to sign-in to Twitter on her iPhone on the 13th or 14th after she posted from her account, but he was in Ghana at the time. Here are tweets from the boys that talk about their trip to Ghana (x) (x) (x) (x), further information about their trip can be found in the footage from Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day, aired on March 15th.
March 6th, 2013:
This tweet was posted, and later deleted, on March 6th. It was then retweeted from the official Modest Management twitter:
(x)
(credit)
Fact 2: Louis has indicated that he’s not the only one in control of his twitter
In this interview, Louis reads this question to Liam (3:44) “How would a fan distinguish between knowing that it’s you doing your tweets and not someone who maybe works for [1D]?”
After Liam says that they like reaching out to their fans, and that fans try to get them to follow them, Louis cuts in, saying “I think when some artists try and pass it off as them tweeting but it’s not, I think you can always tell from the off. I think people will know our personalities and then match that with our tweets.”
If there was no one besides Louis who has access to his account, why did he not just say so?
Furthermore, on September 5th, 2012, the boys did a twitcam for Hasbro (x). A fan asked Louis to unblock him on twitter (at 2:50). Liam asks him “Why did you do that Louis?”
Louis replies “Not sure I did, to be honest.”
If Louis was the only person in control of his twitter account, other people blocking users from his twitter account wouldn’t be a possibility, as he acknowledged above.
Fact 3: Tweets have been sent at times that contradict other timelines
Some of these tweets have been posted when fans have said the boys to be elsewhere. We can’t give solid proof for this, but it has happened more than once that fans have reported seeing one of the boys signing autographs or taking pictures with fans at the time that a tweet was posted. We figured it was worth mentioning this.
On April 22th, 2012, Liam tweeted a picture of Louis, fast asleep on a plane, with packets of sugar poured over his body (x). This tweet was sent at 8:39PM. Note that there is no computer in sight in the picture. Three minutes later, Louis tweeted from web to Eleanor:
(x)
On October 31st, 2012, Louis tweeted Eleanor (x) while he was, according to fans, at that time, giving a press conference in Spain (x).
On December 2nd 2012, Louis_Tomlinson tweeted (x) while the boys were greeting fans.
On December 3rd 2012, Liam tweeted in response to these tweets (x) and (x) while he was outside, waving to fans and signing autographs. (Note that neither of the tweets were sent to Liam or any of the other boys).
On February 23rd, 2013, Harry tweeted about Red Nose Day (x) while he was onstage for the first day of the TMH tour. They played two shows that day, a matinee one and an evening one.
There are more fan reports that mention fans getting blocked on twitter while Louis was playing football (x) or the boys were onstage (x).
Conclusion: Although the boys are definitely the ones posting on Twitter, they do not seem to be the only ones that do so, or that have access to their Twitter. Rumor debunked!
Famous people use relationships (real or not) in order to gain publicity. These are usually set up by their management teams and are called PR relationships. Let’s just say it’s no coincidence the two leads of a new movie coming out are dating.
Why do they exist:
Promotion of self or product:
In order to make money, a product has to be seen. A product can range from an actual product (such as shoes, a gaming system, a drink), a movie, music, or even people. Fake or PR relationships can play into this: two actors out on a date before the release of a movie they both appear in can benefit ticket sales, as well as keep both actors relevant, increasing their chances of getting cast for movies in the future. It’s not uncommon for celebrities to be paid to promote other products too.
Branding:
It’s often important for celebrities to be seen in a certain light. To do this, celebrities can adopt a certain brand. The girl next door, the womanizer, the family man, these brands are placed upon celebrities, and often the stars will try to play up this image by being seen with products that match their brand.
Bearding:
Bearding is the kind of PR relationship that is used to cover up a celebrity’s sexuality. This can tie into the brand they have been given (i.e. the womanizer) and into the product they’re trying to sell. An actor could get a beard so he will not just be chosen for certain roles. Similarly, a celebrity with a lot of teenage fans could make more money if he/she seemed within reach. Bearding has been a PR strategy for decades, for example, Rock Hudson had a beard in the fifties.
Where do they exist:
Gossip sites, newspapers, television shows, radio shows, and other media outlets promote these relationships all the time. Real or not, the goal is to get you to notice them, so it’s very important that the media reports on it. They will write about dates, cute vacation photos, fights, valentine’s day or birthday gifts. (Sometimes these things actually happen, sometimes they are staged, and sometimes they are completely made up) Basically, anything to get them in the news, and thus into your mind.
Common tactics used in PR relationships:
It was mentioned earlier that the media will write stories about ‘dates’ and ‘vacations’ that a couple went on. In these kinds of relationships, they will make sure everyone knows about it so they can gain publicity off of it. In order to do this, they will usually use social media. They can post pictures on instagram, facebook, tweet about it, and sometimes pictures will even “leak”. (Sometimes even their friends or family will post on these sites.) Celebrities can also tip off paparazzi and let them know where they are, or rely on fans.
Examples:
Not a lot of people admit to having PR relationships because it could hurt their reputation. Often, the PR relationships that are confirmed are those of celebrities that have later come out as gay, such as:
Lance Bass: From the boyband N’Sync, Lance Bass came out as gay and admitted to having a beard.
Elton John: Came out as gay after being married to a woman for 4 years.
Mark Feehily: From the boyband Westlife. Revealed he was gay in 2005, and admitted to be shown with girlfriends “to avoid speculation.”
There are also those relationships that have been suspected to be (at least partially) for PR:
Jennifer Aniston/Vince Vaughn: Dated right before the release of their movie “The Break Up”.
Vanessa Hudgens/Zac Efron: Started dating when their movie series “High School Musical” was being released; they broke up after the last one was finished.
Rob Pattinson/Kristen Stewart: Started dating while their movie series “Twilight” was being released.
