Back in 2010, it seemed like all anyone could ever talk about was the new chart-topping boy band One
Direction. But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and so did One Direction
in 2015. Since then fans have been able to get a deeper more personalized look at each of the
members, as they all tried their hand at a solo career. However, it seems that the fame of One
Direction might have left some of the members with a dark mark from being pushed too far.
Today we will explore whether the fame and success of One Direction led members to a
dark spiral of depression, heartache, and an inability to cope with reality five years later.
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Let's start with former band member Harry Styles. Harry has managed to craft his legacy with two
chart-topping albums and made waves with his versatile, yet somewhat controversial style.
Although the singer has a cool-guy public image, it seems as though Harry has been battling some
of his own demons over the past few years. One of his songs in his latest album, includes details of
his self-indulgent and self-loathing tendencies. Harry sings, “What am I now? Am I someone I don’t
want around?”. Styles explains in an interview with Rob Lowe that the album has a lot to do
with the extreme highs and extreme lows he had felt during the recording of the album.
Fans have speculated that this has a lot to do with his devastating break-up with model Camille
Rowe. Within some of his music videos, Harry creates metaphors for how he wants to cleanse
himself of all his past experiences and emotions, and that he’s ready to leave it all behind,
but knows he can’t until he finds himself. Fans think that this cleanse has to do with Camille,
but also his time in One Direction and the image he was forced to display.
There is no denying that during the time of One Direction the members had to present themselves
with a certain boy band facade. Many fans have noticed how since the split of the band,
most of the members have tried their very best to divorce themselves from this image.
One very obvious one is Harry’s unconventional fashion sense, which over the years has
sparked up questions of his sexuality. When asked about his sexuality, Styles tends to
shy away from a straightforward answer and rather focuses on a “who cares” mindset. The singer has
opened up about how he finds sexual ambiguity a lot more interesting than making it a label.
“I just think sexuality’s something that’s fun. Honestly? I can’t say I’ve given it any more
thought than that.”. However, it hasn’t always been as easy as that, especially given how fans
have speculated that Styles and former band member Louis Tomlinson, were romantically involved.
During the time of One Direction, fans would “ship” the two singers,
based on what they thought were signs that they were in a committed relationship. Fans would go
so far as to post videos on YouTube of potential evidence of them being emotionally involved.
Both members were quick to deny the conspiracy theory and in fact, have spoken about how it
deeply affected their friendship with each other and other relationships. Tomlinson said that “It
created this atmosphere between the two of us where everyone was looking into everything we
did.” Fellow band member Zayn Malik commented on how hard it was for Harry and Louis as neither of
them would be able to naturally put their arm around each other because they were conscious
of how fans would make something of nothing. This hasn’t been the only hardship or conspiracy
theory that Louis had to endure. Anyone from fans to friends knew that Louis shared a very
deep bond with his mother, Joanne Deacon. Tragically Deacon's time was cut short after
passing away from leukemia, a year after the band announced that they were taking a break.
To make matters worse, Tomlinson’s sister passed away two years later, of a suspected heart attack.
It’s hard enough to lose anyone you love, but it must be harder to endure that kind of pain
twice in the span of a few years. Louis had to deal with all the trauma while still being in
the public eye and the focus of many media outlets. This led to him almost forced to
talk about his two tragic losses when it was the last thing he would want to talk about.
To add fuel to the fire, if two deaths and a conspiracy theory weren’t traumatic enough,
Louis had to deal with more rumors about his personal life after the band split.
Believe it or not, fans created more than one conspiracy theory around the former band member.
Louis welcomed his son, Freddie, to the world in January 2016. For most people this is one
of the happiest times of their lives, however, Tomlinson’s happiness took a turn for the worse.
The first drama that made headlines was the fact that baby mama, Briana Jungwirth, allegedly
put a wrench in his visitation schedule and was withholding Freddie in a scheme to get more money.
The second and almost more outrageous scandal is that fans created ANOTHER conspiracy theory,
a theory questioning the existence of Tomlinson’s son.
Although the theory was false, it did put an enormous amount of strain on Louis as
was evident in a since-deleted video where Louis snapped back at paparazzi
after they commented on his son’s existence while he was physically holding little Freddie.
Although we understand that gossip doesn’t fall under a tragedy, no person should have to deal
with lies about their character or misinformation about the people close to them. So, we can only
assume that there must have been moments where Louis regretted being in the band to begin with.
That the singer would rather have chosen a life out of the spotlight
for both him and his family’s well being. Zayn Malik is another former band member who
has been open about his struggles with living in the spotlight as well as his battle with
anxiety and depression. Although many of the member's struggles came after the hype
of being in the spotlight, Zayn’s struggles came long before his time in One Direction.
Zayn has said that his battles with anxiety and depression stem from who he is as a person.
Although, the spotlight formed by One Direction did not help subdue his struggles in any way.
For the last 10 years, Zayn has consciously tried to be cautious of what he says.
“For me personally, I think it comes from a place of not ever wanting to come across
as an over-arrogant person or a person who takes himself too seriously.” Yet that didn’t stop the
singer from calling One Direction’s music “Generic as f--” and talking about how it doesn’t fit his
style. Although in later interviews it’s revealed how truly overworked the members were and that
Zayn’s negativity stemmed from exhaustion. But it didn’t stop spectators from thinking
the member was a bit arrogant. Especially for insulting the band that got him where he is today.
Further, Zayn has been open about the eating disorder he adopted during his One Direction days.
He has claimed that it was a very difficult time for him mentally. He revealed in later interviews
that he would often go days without eating while he is on tour. Zayn said “The workload and the
pace of life on the road put together with the pressures and strains of everything going on
within the band badly affected my eating habits. Food was something I could control, so I did.”
However, since splitting from the band, it seems as though he has his eating habits under control.
Although, this didn’t stop fans from taking to social media to share their concerns. Already
struggling with anxiety, depression, and an eating disorder, it can’t be easy having your fans
that should be supporting you constantly making remarks about your appearance and mental health.
Of course, we can’t forget about Liam Payne and how he opened up in a 2019 interview
about how he struggled to cope personally and mentally during his years in the band.
In an interview with Jessie Ware, Liam opened up about how the success of the band impacted his
life and solo career. He spoke about how he felt immense pressure to reach the standards of One
Direction. Liam shared how difficult it was being in the band due to back to back tours, selling
tickets before there was an album, and all the drinking that came along while they were on tour.
He said he felt very self-destructive at the time. “There’s no stop button like you got
no control over your life. And that’s why I lost complete control of everything.”
It’s no surprise that all of this was just too much for all the band members including Liam. Liam
has said that since the band took a break all he has been trying to do is take control of his life,
because at a time all of the fame scared the life out of him so much that he had to seek therapy.
And of course we can't forget our favorite Irishman of the band, Niall Horan. Fortunately,
Niall has not had such a traumatic experience as his fellow band members post One Direction.
Although, it was speculated that during his time in the band, Niall felt slightly excluded.
Unlike Zayn and Harry, he was not among the most popular members in the group,
both of whom have struggled to break free from their prior associations.
Further, each member was known for a unique characteristic, broody, adorable, sassy, whereas
Niall was just known for being the blonde one. It couldn’t have been easy being the only one known
for something that isn’t even real, as Niall is naturally brunette. Niall was further ostracised
by some for being the only Irishman in the band and the only one who refused to get tattoos. And
although One Direction kicked off Niall’s career, the band was also the result of Horan missing out
on a lot of things normal kids get to do including missing his prom or even finishing school.
After five years, five albums, and four tours, it’s no surprise that the group
never got a break. Despite the trauma that many of the band members had to go through
it doesn’t seem to have stopped any of them from reaching new heights in their solo careers.
We can only wish that it can only go up for each member.