Hi! As someone who has been a Larrie for a full decade and nowadays only pops back into the fandom during new music or other major events, I want to take some part in the diary of a CEO interview discussion. There was something very healing in it for me and it helped put the puzzle together about the past ten years. I believe Louis can also breathe a bit better having gotten all that out in a safe environment and hopefully the press won't bring up the painful things anymore. There is just no need, he said what he wanted to share and indeed it's not fair to define him by the tragedies for the rest of his life.
But on the talk about 1D breaking up. I still believe it was Harry who initiated and pushed it, he's made it clear enough himself. Niall and Liam also made it clear that they either didn't want the band to end the way it did. In the interview Louis literally says "the people, or the person involved wasn't brave enough to answer the question (about the length of the hiatus)". I think this is the clearest answer we'll ever get. He literally and consciously corrects himself from the plural and deducts it into one person. Louis said it came from the boys. He has no reason to lie about that and for the fans the other way around probably would sound better. We can put two and two together. Altho his way of laughing and saying "it almost may have been the representatives" is very interesting and does leave me with some questions. It may be some sort of a coping mechanism of him shifting the decision away from Harry. Azoff's had Heavily circled him.
I don't fully believe that Harry's biggest/only motive was a solo career, but that he saw the band was destroying them mentally, especially Liam. It was a very complex situation with incredibly hard decisions. There are a million small and big things driving into that situation. As someone who hates conflicts and still cares deeply for the band, it's easy to, more or less consciously, sell it to them and yourself as a hiatus. I honestly don't blame him and people need to get off their high horses if they can confidently say what they would've done in that situation. We're not perfect and Harry has beat himself enough about it in his songs.
I think people have a very black-and-white attitude on HL's relationship regarding the topic. Think about being in Harry's shoes for a second. He's said he felt out of control, like he couldn't decide about anything for himself. He needs the break for himself and the others. Now, how exactly do you talk about that to your partner whose career is also on the line? I'd imagine very few things in a long-term relationship are harder to discuss than that. Basically none of us will ever be in that situation.
Put yourself in Louis' shoes now. Your best friend betrays you in an incredibly hurtful way. Your partner pushes a hard decision you disagree on, but as a coping mechanism to protect your relationship, you find another place to direct your hurt and anger. What's a good place for that? A person you can quite easily justify as the cause of the beginning of the end and who you're already mad at. Zayn took a Lot of Louis' shit.
Of course Louis had resentment about the whole process of the band breaking up for quite a while but if we go by the assumption that even with difficulties or a break in their relationship, in the end his love for Harry was bigger than his love for his career. Louis was mature enough to differentiate between a career decision and a decision about a relationship. He keeps saying his family will always be more important than career. For all intents and purposes Harry has been his family since 2010.
There were absolutely no signs of resentment towards Harry in 2015. He wrote love songs and MITAM promo was heaven for Larries. Louis did say in the interview that the person driving the break had every right to think for themselves. That shows real maturity and that he was able to forgive that person. And of course his feelings may have shifted during the years. You can't absorbe it all in the moment. 2015 was happy even though the decision was made. But they still lived the band life. Then the break actually hits him, he's reflecting what happened and in a few years their music starts to allude communication issues. But you still can't describe the songs portraying resentment as the main emotion. It's more about the emotional distance between them.
Bless you for summing that up so well. I wholly agree with you. ❤️
