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His love life has been public since he was 16.
By Sanika Nalgirkar — Written on Oct 02, 2022
Harry Styles has dated many famous women from Kendall Jenner to his current girlfriend, Olivia Wilde but you will rarely catch the singer talking about his love life.
Aside from a few sneaky paparazzi images and some cryptic song lyrics, the "Watermelon Sugar" singer's relationship remain largely out of the public eye.
As one of the most famous men on the planet, fans are often left wondering why and how Styles manages to stay so private.
Harry Styles was reportedly restricted from talking about his love life because of a "morals clause" in his contract.
The start of Styles’ fame goes back to the time when he auditioned for “The X Factor” when he was just 16 years old.
When he became a part of the band One Direction, his popularity skyrocketed and the band easily became one of the most famous boy bands of its time.
Due to the band’s fame, all the band members had to keep a clean image of themselves in the public eye.
Styles, along with his band mates, even had a "morals clause" in their contract.
Melissa, a story producer for Goalcast explained, “It was a condition in the contract that demanded that the boys be on good behavior. So if Harry was promiscuous or acted in any way that went against the band’s clean-cut image, they wouldn’t have to pay him.”
Additionally, he had been highly sexualized since he was a teenager.
While appearing on “The X Factor,” Styles was linked to one of the show's presenters and Caroline Flack who was 31 while Styles was just 17.
Styles didn’t talk about those relationships in public as he had been highly concerned about what people thought of him.
As a result, he learned to not answer questions about his personal life and to keep it private. However, trying to maintain a public image was tough.
“I was so concerned with people liking that I would give up too much space around me that would affect me negatively,” Styles spoke in an interview with Apple Music.
In another interview, he spoke about how wanting to be liked by other people was turning him into a different person and he didn't like that.
In the midst of that, One Direction split up and Styles had to figure out his own identity apart from the group.
Harry Styles soon learned to be himself in the media and not care about what other people thought.
“I think now, I feel okay kind of putting boundaries up and it doesn’t matter if people want you to be that thing that they always loved about you or they want you to be that person because you’re not that person anymore,” Styles said.
Styles also spoke to Better Homes & Garden about his experience about how being in the band made him feel scared about how he behaved in public.
Now, after so much self-discovery following the end of One Direction, he feels happier — he said, "I felt free."
Wilde has also spoken about her relationship with the “Fine Line” singer and who he has become as a person.
“To me, he’s very modern and I hope that this brand of confidence as a male that Harry has truly devoid of any traces of toxic masculinity is indicative of his generation and therefore the future of the world,” Wilde told Vogue.
Sanika Nalgirkar is a News & Entertainment Writer for YourTango. She has a master's degree in Creative Writing. See more of her writing on her website.