Harry Styles once believed that going to therapy meant you were broken. The As It Was singer, who is set to release his third album Harry’s House later this month, admitted that his perception of seeking counseling has drastically changed, insisting that by speaking to a professional about his personal issues, it has allowed him to “open up rooms” in himself he was unaware existed.
The 28-year-old recalled being caught up in his thoughts during the pandemic, during which time he heavily reflected on his chart-dominating time as a band member of One Direction. The group, which was formed in 2010 on the UK’s X Factor, sold over 70 million records during their six-year stint and became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time. But behind all of the success, Harry and his bandmates experienced, there were also many troubling obstacles that the singer faced which he says he didn’t fully process until he was stuck at home during lockdown.
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“I thought it meant that you were broken,” he told Better Homes & Gardens while speaking of his decision to start therapy. “I wanted to be the one who could say I didn’t need it. I think that accepting living, being happy, hurting in the extremes, that is the most alive you can be. Losing it crying, losing it laughing—there’s no way, I don’t think, to feel more alive than that.”
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“In lockdown, I started processing a lot of stuff that happened when I was in the band,” he added, revealing that there had been a lot of pressure put upon him to live up to the squeaky clean image “to get people to engage with you, to like you,” which Harry admits was one of the challenging things because he felt so disconnected from the person he was in the band than to the person he was in his personal life.
Some of the contractual clauses in his record deal meant that he had to be on his best behavior at all times, which the British heartthrob said had left such an impression on him, he became fearful of doing something that could be deemed as inappropriate or potentially hurt the band’s reputation. It was ingrained to the five-piece band that if they wanted to sustain longevity in the music industry, they would need to come across as well-behaved and approachable to their demographic, primarily teenagers.
Harry is kicking off the European leg of his Love On Tour in Glasgow next month before concluding his run in Portugal on July 31. His concerts will then continue in North America before heading to Latin America by the year’s end. The Love On Tour has already generated a reported $95 million and sold over 715,000 tickets from just 42 shows — and since the trek isn’t expected to conclude until March 2023, those numbers are expected to skyrocket once all is said and done.