When Harry was 17, he dated the late TV presenter Caroline Flack, who was 32 then, making for a 15-year age gap — a pretty big stretch when one of the partners isn't even old enough to legally buy a pint of beer. Although, plus side, you do get a designated driver. "With Caroline Flack, you can imagine, dads and sons, it's like, 'Fair play, son.' But it was a bit ridiculous, 32 or whatever she was and 17. It's a bit extreme, really," Harry's dad Desmond Styles told Daily Record.
Harry and Flack dated for a few months in 2011 when One Direction had just won "The X-Factor" and Flack was presenting its sister show "The Xtra Factor." After they split, speculation emerged that Harry had moved on to a newer model. Something he immediately shot down. "Please know I didn't 'dump' Caroline. This was a mutual decision. She is one of the kindest, sweetest people I know. Please respect that," Styles tweeted. Still, Flack faced significant backlash for dating the teen. "You're a victim," one commenter replied to Harrty's tweet. "'dump Caroline' ???? Baby, she was grooming you," they continued.
Flack blamed the scrutiny and the haters for their relationship ending. "In the street, people started shouting at me 'pedophile' and 'pervert,'" she wrote in "Storm in a C Cup," her 2004 memoir. "A 'One Direction' fanzine had me as a voodoo doll, with arrows (pins) pointing at various parts of my anatomy."
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