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What fans need to know about Harry Styles' former relationship with the late 'Love Island' host.
By Nicole Pomarico — Written on Feb 19, 2020
Over the weekend, the world was shocked to find out that former Love Island host Caroline Flack had died by suicide. Although Flack was dating Lewis Burton at the time of her death, she had more than one famous ex, including Prince Harry and another famous Harry as well — boy bander turned solo artist Harry Styles.
Given their age difference, the three-month long relationship between them was certainly an unexpected one ... and a bit bizarre, given that Styles was still a teenager at the time they were together, just as One Direction was gaining mass amounts of fame after The X-Factor.
Here's everything you need to know about Styles and Flack's relationship:
1. The 14-year age gap between them didn't seem to bother Flack.
In her autobiography, Storm In a C Cup, Flack wrote about Styles being only 17 when they started dating, although she said that age wasn't something she gave a lot of thought to when they were together because of how well they got along.
"I still feel 18 and probably act that way half the time — all those years in kids’ telly probably didn’t help," she wrote. "Although it was just a bit of fun we decided it was best to keep it to ourselves, as we were both working for Simon Cowell."
2. Flack was called a "pedophile" and a "pervert" for dating Styles.
After their relationship went public when paparazzi caught them together for the first time, things turned ugly fast. "It began to go wrong when Harry was pictured coming out of my house one morning. And once that was out, it was open season," she wrote in her book. "After that anyone could say anything. In the street people started shouting at me 'pedophile' and 'pervert.' A One Direction fanzine had me as a voodoo doll, with arrows (pins) pointing to bits of my anatomy. There was a moment when we just thought, sh*t, this has gone really dark. So perhaps we did the wrong thing, who knows."
3. She's been mocked for their relationship.
As recently as summer 2019, Flack has been mocked for dating Styles, despite the fact that their relationship happened in 2011. When she appeared on Shopping With Keith Lemon, Lemon teased her about dating Styles but try as he might, Flack did her best not to let him get a reaction out of her.
"I said my biggest concern was bonfire night’s going to be really rubbish, because he’s not old enough to get sparklers, which was true. Because he was at an age where he couldn’t have a drink, what did you do, just go bowling?" Lemon said on the show, to which Flack replied with only a shrug.
4. Fans weren't happy about Flack's relationship with Styles.
When the relationship rumors were at an all-time high, Flack was forced to take to Twitter to ask fans to stop sending her death threats.
"Hi One Direction fans! To clarify. I'm close friends with Harry.. He's one of the nicest people I know...I don't deserve death threats. :) x," Flack tweeted in November 2011.
5. Flack has said she would never apologize for dating him.
In a 2015 interview that originally appeared in The Telegraph and was later reprinted online, Flack said that she wouldn't apologize for dating Styles because nothing bad came of it.
"I'm not going to ever apologize for it because there was nothing at the time that was serious or bad and nobody was getting hurt," she said.
6. Styles may have paid tribute to Flack in his own way.
When Styles appeared at the 2020 Brit Awards this week, he wore a black ribbon pinned to the lapel of his suit in honor of Flack, as the ribbon is thought to symbolize someone in mourning. Styles' mom, Anne Twist, also tweeted about Flack's death, writing, "heartbreaking. #ripcarolineflack," along with a broken heart emoji.
Nicole Pomarico is an entertainment and lifestyle writer whose work has appeared in Cosmo, Us Weekly, Refinery29, and more.