Harry Styles says pressure to label his sexuality is ‘outdated’: ‘It’s my personal experience’
Harry Styles has long refused to label his sexuality. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for ABA)
Harry Styles has shrugged off the ongoing speculation around his sexuality.
Styles’ dress sense, penchant for LGBT+ flag-waving and refusal to clarify his sexual orientation to journalists has led to him being accused of queerbaiting and of appropriating a queer aesthetic.
In a new interview with Better Homes & Gardens to promote his third album, Harry’s Home, the singer explained why he refuses to give a straight answer when asked about who he does and doesn’t sleep with.
Calling the expectation that he label himself “outdated”, he said: “I’ve been really open with it with my friends, but that’s my personal experience; it’s mine.
“The whole point of where we should be heading, which is toward accepting everybody and being more open, is that it doesn’t matter, and it’s about not having to label everything, not having to clarify what boxes you’re checking.”
Harry Styles says sex life was ‘the only thing that’s mine’
Harry Styles said he felt “ashamed” of his sex life, but that for a long time, he felt it was the only thing he controlled the narrative of.
“For a long time, it felt like the only thing that was mine was my sex life,” he told the magazine.
“I felt so ashamed about it, ashamed at the idea of people even knowing that I was having sex, let alone who with.”
Now in a relationship with actor and director Olivia Wilde, he reflected on how being single stoked much of the speculation around his sexuality.
“At the time, there were still the kiss-and-tell things. Working out who I could trust was stressful,” Styles 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.”
Harry Styles performs on the Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Harry Styles)
A spiritual person, Styles said he has taken the time to look back on the way his career – and his sexuality – was picked up by an often encircling media.
“You look back, especially now there are all the documentaries, like the Britney documentary [Framing Britney Spears], and you watch how people were abused in that way, by that system, especially women,” he said.
“You recall articles from not even five years ago, and you’re like, I can’t even believe that was written.”
In a 2019 interview with The Guardian, Styles said sexuality is something that is “fun” and, at the end of the day, “who cares?”
“Honestly? I can’t say I’ve given it any more thought than that,” he said, adding: “It’s: who cares? Does that make sense?
“It’s just: who cares?”
