Matty Healy Is Literally the 'Flushed Away' Rat

During a recent show in Australia, The 1975 frontman divulged that he has an unexpected personal connection to the 2006 animated film, as his mother is the goddaughter of Flushed Away producer, Ian La Frenais. So given their close proximity, La Frenais' muse ended up being none other than a young Healy, who eventually became the inspiration for Roddy St. James, the film's posh rodent protagonist.

"There’s a meme that I’m a specific rat, which, is it the kid from 'Flushed Away,'" as Healy told the audience during their concert at the Riverstage in Brisbane. "This is actually doing me damage. I’m not cashing in on anything there. But we’re all friends, and I’ve seen that meme so many times, and it’s made me laugh."

roddy (suited and booted) pic.twitter.com/NoyOrG4TSn

— ⎕ jamie (@MARRIEDAR0B0T) January 18, 2023

As Healy explained, he never told the Flushed Away story, as he wanted to keep the focus on "this fucking brilliant band right here." However, the "Love Me" singer appears to have reached the point where he can't keep the hilarious secret to himself anymore, meaning he finally revealed the aforementioned link between his actress mother, Denise Welch, and La Frenais, who he "wasn’t actually close" to until he was around "14 years old or something like that."

"But anyway, he was looking for inspiration for a movie he was producing called 'Flushed Away,'" Healy continued. "So, it is genuinely based on me."

He added, "I know that seems ridiculous, but if you do enough internet research, you’ll be able to be find out that that’s true." And as the crowd began to scream "Ratty" at him, the only thing Healy could do was acknowledge that La Frenais and Dreamworks "did a good job."

"So maybe I am officially a fucking rat now," he said.

You can watch Healy tell the story via a fan TikTok below.

Photo via Getty / Amy Sussman for KROQ