Harry Styles on Why He'll Never Label His Sexuality

In his new cover story for Better Homes & Gardens, the hitmaker talked about the process of making his upcoming album, Harry's House, which he said was inspired by isolating during the pandemic and is, by far, the "most intimate" record he's ever made.

Between making music though, Styles — who's been in a relationship with Olivia Wilde for over a year — said he had a lot of downtime to think about his past and how it's affected him, especially when he was in One Direction. After all, he said it was a time when many people thought they had unfettered access to his personal life, whether it be industry professionals or the fans who continue to speculate that Styles had a relationship with bandmate, Louis Tomlinson.

“In lockdown, I started processing a lot of stuff that happened when I was in the band,” he said. “For a long time, it felt like the only thing that was mine was my sex life."

Styles went on to say that he was "so ashamed" about sex and at "the idea of people even knowing that I was having sex, let alone who with."

"At the time, there were still the kiss-and-tell things. Working out who I could trust was stressful," he said. "But I think I got to a place where I was like, ‘Why do I feel ashamed? I’m a 26-year-old man who’s single’; it’s, like, yes, I have sex.”

Even though he's not ashamed to admit he has sex now, he still wants to keep the details out of the public eye, though he's "been really open with it with my friends, but that’s my personal experience; it’s mine." Besides, he believes his sexuality won't a huge deal anyway in a few year, seeing as society is heading towards a place that is about "accepting everybody and being more open."

"[So] that it doesn’t matter, and it’s about not having to label everything, not having to clarify what boxes you’re checking," Styles said, adding that he also thinks people are starting to be more thoughtful about celebrities' privacy with things "like the Britney [Spears] documentary coming out."

"You watch how people were abused in that way, by that system, especially women,” he said, before musing, “You recall articles from not even five years ago, and you’re like, ‘I can’t even believe that was written.'”

Read Styles' entire cover story here.

Photo via Getty / Kevin Mazur