In a sprawling new Rolling Stone interview, Harry Styles takes time to address several issues on the minds of his fans, which involve his personal life and how it impacts his art.
In the past year, the former One Direction star has been dating actress Olivia Wilde. Their realtionship has been well-documented in the press, as they’ve been photographed together countless times and spotted at events together ever since he acted in her upcoming film Don’t Worry Darling.
The scrutiny, however, has been “difficult” for Styles and Wilde, who both spoke about the challenges that have come up when a vocal minority of his 1D fans use social media to condemn Wilde and their relationship.
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“It’s obviously a difficult feeling to feel like being close to me means you’re at the ransom of a corner of Twitter or something,” he told the magazine. “I just wanted to sing. I didn’t want to get into it if I was going to hurt people like that.”
Wilde chimed in: “What I don’t understand about the cruelty you’re referencing is that that kind of toxic negativity is the antithesis of Harry, and everything he puts out there. I don’t personally believe the hateful energy defines his fan base at all. The majority of them are true champions of kindness.”
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In the interview, Styles also discussed his new role in the upcoming film My Policeman, a romantic period piece set in the ’50s, when it was illegal to be in a same-sex relationship in the UK.
“It’s obviously pretty unfathomable now to think, ‘Oh, you couldn’t be gay. That was illegal,'” he said. “I think everyone, including myself, has your own journey with figuring out sexuality and getting more comfortable with it. It’s not like ‘This is a gay story about these guys being gay.’ It’s about love and about wasted time to me.”
Styles also broke down the vision for the sex scenes.
“So much of gay sex in film is two guys going at it, and it kind of removes the tenderness from it,” he said. “There will be, I would imagine, some people who watch it who were very much alive during this time when it was illegal to be gay, and [director Michael Grandage] wanted to show that it’s tender and loving and sensitive.”
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Despite taking on the role, Styles also disputed allegations of “queerbaiting,” or subtlety marketing himself as being LGBTQ without actually identifying as a member of that community.
“Sometimes people say, ‘You’ve only publicly been with women,’ and I don’t think I’ve publicly been with anyone,” he said. “If someone takes a picture of you with someone, it doesn’t mean you’re choosing to have a public relationship or something.”
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