I turned 22 in November and I am not ashamed to say I am actually in love with One Direction. They are definitely my guilty pleasure! Their debut single ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ was definitely one of my soundtracks to the summer. My house mates even bought me a doll for my birthday (which I would like to make clear I didn’t ask for, but I was a little bit excited when I unwrapped it…). The identity of the doll was Zayn, though I was secretly hoping for the beautiful specimen that is Harry Styles. My flatmates told me that he was all sold out. I could have guessed this; he is the most popular and the one that all the girls adore.
So when it emerged that he had been caught playing tonsil tennis with the Xtra factor host, the gorgeous Caroline Flack, I am not going to deny I was a little bit jealous. It was all over the celebrity media and the gossip magazines went crazy. This was made out to be the cheekiest celebrity hook up of the century. Louis Walsh even made a remark on the Xtra factor show and Harry was cornered in band interviews about their relationship. When One Direction had to perform on the show and be interviewed by Caroline, you could cut the sexual tension with a knife. It was no surprise when it was confirmed they were actually in a relationship.
No one knew the backlash that Caroline was going to get from the world, especially from loyal One Direction fans. Abusive comments flooded her Twitter page and celebrities like Alex Gerrard were the first to criticise the relationship. The common criticisms are the fact that there is 15 years between them and that Harry is only 17. However, Harry wasn’t the only One Direction member to get involved with an older woman. Rebecca Ferguson, who is 25, dated 18 year old Zayn Malik but their relationship came to an end after four months.
A 17 year old boy is given some kind of innocent status and a 32 year old woman is the ‘predator’. The strange thing is that if he was 18 then this wouldn’t be an issue. They both met at a showbiz event and in the public eye, so it is different circumstances to a normal relationship. Harry Styles is in a boy band and obviously has attention from girls every day. When Matt Cardle won the X factor, Harry was the one to use an explicit word to describe what Matt was going to get a lot of. This is not describing a boy that needs saving from the clutches of an older woman.
Some One Direction fans have expressed death threats to Caroline which is absolutely outrageous. She has defended their relationship, saying:
“what’s hard for me to get my head around is people saying that it’s disgusting. I don’t think it is. Some people tend to see the negative immediately and that’s what I find strange. If two people like each other and get on, why does anyone else find a negative in it?“.
Harry has remained tight-lipped on the subject and just confirms they spend a lot of time together, although Caroline has commented that Harry has been the mature one and told her to forget about the hateful messages.
Is their relationship a winning formula? Look at the couples that have had a successful relationship with a big age gap:
1. Sam Taylor- Wood and Aaron Johnson- 24 years
This film director, 44, and heart throb, 21, are engaged and are expecting their second child. They started dating soon after Sam cast him in her film ‘Nowhere Boy.’ When asked about the relationship Aaron said: “I’ve got a wonderful woman, I’m an old soul and she’s a young soul.”
2. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes- 16 years
The Dawson Creek star, 32, married the Mission Impossible actor, 49, in 2006. They are still happily married and have one daughter. In an interview with Seventeen magazine in 2004 she said: “I used to think I was going to marry Tom Cruise.” Little did she know her childhood dreams would come true.
3. Catherine Zeta- Jones and Michael Douglas- 25 years
This A-list couple have been married for 11 years now. Catherine, 42, and Michael, 67, have had two kids together. Catherine has hit back at critics of her relationship by calling it ‘ageless love’ and “until someone tells me there is a 25 year age gap I really don’t notice it.”
4. Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher- 15 years
This was the hottest celebrity couple when they first got together. Demi, 49, married her ‘toyboy’ Ashton, 33, in 2005. Demi said “I don’t understand why people made such a fuss about my relationship. I was never thinking about age, but to the rest of the world it was a very big deal.” It came to an end recently and they are now filing for divorce, but at the time they had one of the most sought after relationships in Hollywood. Ashton loved his older woman and on Twitter he famously tweeted a video of her doing the Wii fit and was proud of her hot figure.
So will ‘Haroline’ last? We will just have to wait and see as it will be all over the media. I just think that we need to leave them both to it. My only message for Caroline is good on you girl, if I was going out with Mr Styles I would be shouting it from the rooftops and walking around with a big smile on my face.