Harry Styles is opening up about navigating a unique type of anxiety during his early career with the help of an “outgoing” girlfriend.
“In the early days, when I was in the band and stuff, so much of the hotel experience felt very locked in. It felt like there was this [idea of], ‘Oh, it’s not safe for me to be out,’ in some way,” Styles, 32, said in a Musicians on Musicians conversation with Thom Yorke for Rolling Stone. “I remember I had a girlfriend who was very outgoing, she was coming to London. And I was kind of like, ‘If we just sit in my house for three days, she’s gonna think I’m nuts.'”
Styles, who rose to fame when One Direction was formed on The X Factor UK in 2010, recalled walking “everywhere” with his then-girlfriend, who remained unnamed.
“It was this realization for me of, ‘Oh, it’s fine to be outside.’ It kind of broke that thing,” he said. “And then now, it’s changed my life in such a big way. It’s like how you stay connected to the world and the experience.”
The Grammy winner continued, “I read something about walking being the artist’s kind of perspective, because you’re at ground level and you see things you just don’t see if you’re driving.”
Though he didn’t reveal exactly who he was dating at the time, Styles was briefly linked to Taylor Swift in 2012, and the pair were spotted out and about together a handful of times before calling it quits.
Following his One Direction era, Styles shot to superstardom as a solo artist. He was linked to Kendall Jenner, Camille Rowe, Olivia Wilde and Taylor Russell before moving on with Zoë Kravitz.
News broke earlier this year that Styles and Kravitz, 37, were engaged. While neither has confirmed the milestone, the couple are often seen strolling the streets of New York City amid Styles’ ongoing Together, Together residency at Madison Square Garden.
Throughout his career, Styles has been candid about adapting to life in the spotlight. He took an extended break from touring before his Together, Together shows, sharing rare insight into how he spent the time away during a recent interview with W Magazine.
“In the time that I took away from touring, I watered a side of my life I hadn’t paid much attention to previously,” he said in August. “Because I started so young, touring became so much of who I was. I would feel quite uncomfortable with stretches at home. I didn’t know what to do with myself sometimes. Now I feel really fortunate to have this incredible job and creative environment, but also this life away from it that I’m excited to spend time in. I don’t know that I had that before.”
When he returned to the stage in NYC for an impressive 30-show run, Styles hinted another break could be coming soon.
“I don’t know what comes next for me,” he said in September, teasing the announcement of another leg of the Together, Together tour, “but I know that I’m excited to find out.”
