People Were Not Happy She Dated Harry Styles

Everyone knows that One Direction’s Harry Styles is one of the most fawned over young men in teenybopper history, but few actually know what it’s like to date the young singer, much to their dismay. However, one woman, Caroline Flack, has revealed the pressures of being Styles’ girlfriend, and it's not pretty. Though the two are not together anymore, they definitely made quite a stir when they first began dating, with Flack not only being a three-year host of The Xtra Factor, but also for being 14 years older than her former beau. You can bet that super fans of the British boy band did not take this news lightly at the time.

Flack and Styles first met when she interviewed him for The Xtra Factor (which she is no longer a part of), and the young Casanova emailed her until she went on a date with him, according to the Daily Mail. The couple only dated for three months, which ended up being hell for the host, who received a lot of criticism and harassment from Styles’ fans.

“When the bullies first started it became a bit all-consuming and I got a bit lost in my thoughts,” Flack told the Daily Mail. “It was horrible. But the more you learn about Twitter, the more you realize it’s an outlet for people to be angry. I was always comfortable in my own skin until people started criticizing it. They’d talk about my appearance and call me fat. At first I thought, ‘What have I done wrong?’ Now I know there are a lot of angry people out there. You don’t get the ups without the downs, or the downs without the ups.”

Though the hate mail was abundant and though even one magazine showed 1D fans how to make a Flack voodoo doll (wtf?!), Flack told the Daily News that going to therapy years before this for her parents divorce helped her find her way through the bullying.

Similarly, it didn’t stop Flack from carrying on with her life and even picking up a new boyfriend, music manager Jack Street, who is 10 years younger than her and who she recently moved in with. Even though Flack knows that people still call her a cougar, she hasn’t let her past or present get in the way of her life.

“I suppose if someone is going to force you into a category it’s a fun category to be in,” Flack said. “No one really knows what’s going on in my private life, though. Everyone has their secrets. I could be known for something a lot worse. It’s not a bad way to live your life.”

You do you, girl!

Image: Tumblr