THEY were once ‘like brothers’, touring the world together and dealing with global superstardom after being propelled into the spotlight aged just 16.
But now in their early 30s, Niall Horan and Harry Styles are “worlds apart” and living “vastly different lives”. Here, an insider tells us why the relationship has soured between the pair, and how the rest of One Direction are keeping their distance.
Fans first noticed cracks between the pair last month when Niall, 32, made barbed remarks about the cost of fame on an American podcast just days after Harry, also 32, said he found his superstardom “deeply isolating”.
Speaking on the Zach Sang show earlier this month, Niall cheerfully revealed how delighted he is to be living a “completely normal life” in London, travelling on the tube, walking his dog and going for beers with his mates in local boozers.
When asked if he minds being stopped by fans, the Irish singer remarked: “You cannot have your f***ing cake and eat it”.
Fans were quick to point out that the comment came shortly after Harry spoke about the cost of superstardom – and wondered if it was a dig in his direction.
Speaking to Runners’ World magazine for their May cover, Harry said that he found fame ‘deeply isolating’ and felt the need to withdraw from public life to protect himself.
As part of this, he moved to Italy, because it allows him to ‘live a quiet life’ and ‘reset’.
But the differing attitudes toward fame are part of reason why the pair are no longer close.
A source tells us: “The boys used to be like brothers, they were the best of friends and used to joke about what life would be like when they were old men and still hanging out together.
“Now they are about a million miles from that. They have gone their separate ways and are all living such different lives.
“Niall is a real homebody; he loves being at their place in London with Mia and the dog, or with his family in Ireland. He’s not a kid anymore; he feels settled now, while Harry still jets all over the world and never seems to stay in one place for long.
“The pair of them hardly have anything in common now, and while Niall would never come straight out and criticise Harry, some things he says definitely make Niall’s eyes roll.”
While the Irish singer songwriter, who is worth £52 million, is completely at ease with being recognised when he’s out and about, scared Styles recently admitted all the unwanted attention left him wanting to become a recluse.
Speaking to US media, Niall claims he can live carefree in London. He says his life with long-term girlfriend Amelia Woolley – known as Mia – is not built around his work schedule and fame.
He added that he’s never minded being mobbed by One Direction’s devoted army of fans: “I don’t ever want it to be like, poor me. That was just the way it was – there were a lot of people around.
“I just get out and do it, and people are going to come up to you and say hello. And that’s fine.
“I used to be nearly afraid of that. I love it now. I basically live a completely normal life, really, apart from the fact that if I walk in somewhere, someone’s going to come up and say hello, that’s fine.
“I walk the dog every day and go on the tube and go into town and go for beers. There’s nothing special.
“It’s a great thing. It’s something that when you were younger, you yearned for.
“We all want that normalcy in effect. You cannot have your f****ing cake and eat it, though, either.
“I want to be out there doing my thing and getting up on stage. It’s the best f***ing thing in the world.”
This latest spat between the pop legends comes after we revealed Zayn Malik punched Louis Tomlinson in the face during a vicious row, cutting his head and leaving him concussed.
The former pals’ bruising clash came as they filmed a three-part road trip for a nostalgic Netflix documentary about the band, which has since been scrapped.
It emerged that Zayn had made a scathing remark about Louis’ mum, Johannah Deakin, who died of leukaemia in 2016.
Despite the frenzy of worldwide adulation, Niall says that down-to-earth fashion buyer Mia, 28, from Birmingham, keeps his feet firmly planted on the ground.
He went on: “You can sit at home and go like, it’s hard for me to do these things.
“But at times, it being uncomfortable or something can be a reason why you don’t do them. Or you can choose for that to not be a reason and you can do them anyway.
“When you shut out a lot of the things that are assumed can be negative, you also just unconsciously shut out a ton of positive things.
“We live a completely normal life outside of this.
“It’s like someone’s pressed pause on a stopwatch, and then when it clicked back in, I was just this different person. It’s really cool. It happened gradually, but when I think about it in hindsight, it felt like just night and day.
I basically live a completely normal life, if someone’s going to come up and say hello, that’s fine
Niall Horan
“My life just went from being all encompassing to having this good divide.
“I love it. I like having the balance. It’s pretty cool.
“I’ve gotten very good at. When I’m at home, I’m completely at home. I’m not doing anything. I just want to be at home.
“But I like going to work now and then being at home, I like it that way.
“Hopefully, I can keep doing that because it’s a nice little balance I’ve got going on. And it takes time to get to that.
“Amelia’s got her own life. She’s been doing her thing, and everything can’t be just surrounding me.
“It’s already weird enough that she used to fly to Amsterdam to come in on a five o’clock flight on a Friday. It can’t be like that all the time.
“Bringing her into that is a really cool thing. And she feels that sense of pride and looks at the fans and sees the way they’re thinking and things like that.
“It’s such a cool thing for her if I play her a song; she’s never had that before. It’s not like people were coming home in the evening from work and going, ‘Hey, I wrote you a song today.’
“That’s a new thing for her, too. The whole thing is a shock to the system, but our life is just not all about that.”
Niall previously dated Hailee Steinfeld and Ellie Goulding – resulting in Ed Sheeran writing the hit track Don’t about an apparent love triangle between the trio.
But Harry, who rented a mansion outside Rome and ran marathons using pseudonyms, feels very differently.
He explained recently: “A large part of the last couple of years has just been about, honestly, learning to like myself away from having so much of my value baked into whether other people are enjoying me or not.
“Learning that fears and feelings aren’t facts, and you can have a feeling about yourself and taking the time to be able to see what that is and see where that comes from.”