Tarnishing of the teenage idols even mums and dads approved of
They were Cowell’s squeaky clean supergroup. But is a shock pregnancy the final nail in One Direction’s coffin?
THE list of boy-band casualties is a long one — and the members of One Direction have been through more than most. Living in the crucible of intense fame, on the relentless treadmill of record-release-promote-tour, the British band’s young stars contend with a schedule which includes making films, releasing everything from perfumes to duvet covers, and being scrutinised on social media day and night.
And now it seems — after selling more than 50 million records worldwide and earning £27 million each — that the reckoning is coming. For all five original One Direction members appear to be engaged in a very modern decline and fall.
Since the band was put together on The X Factor in 2010, there have been scandals involving drugs, tattoos, women and online spats. Now we learn one of the group, Louis Tomlinson, has — via a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it fling — inadvertently impregnated a 23-yearold stylist called Briana Jungwirth.
The pair, who enjoyed a couple of dates after Louis split from his long-term girlfriend Eleanor Calder, were no longer an item when she discovered she was expecting. The news has been greeted with horror by the band’s global fanbase and seems likely to hasten the end of their shelf life as squeaky- clean idols for tweens and teens.
Bookmakers William Hill have halved the odds that One Direction announce they are splitting before the end of 2015 to just 3/1.
It is widely rumoured that after they finish their current tour and release and promote their fifth album they will take ‘a break’ rather than embark on another tour. This plan has been interpreted as the beginning of the end, although record label Sony deny that 2015 will be the band’s final year.
It is undeniable, though, that things are falling apart. Earlier this year Zayn Malik left the band amid acrimony and accusations of drug use. Harry Styles, the heart-throb who resembles a young Mick Jagger, is said to be planning a similar exit — to try his hand in films.
Yes, five years after the boys set off to audition for The X Factor — the talent show from which they emerged as instant chart-toppers — fame has wrought many changes. So how far have they fallen?
33 TATTOOS AND A BABY ON THE WAY
WHEN an 18-year-old Louis Tomlinson auditioned for X Factor, he was still at school in Doncaster. Like the rest of the band, he had hoped to make it as a solo performer, but was put into a group with the other four by music mogul Simon Cowell.
This week Louis’s mother Johanna, a midwife, posted a message online about how, on July 10, 2010: ‘My boy left his home with a packed lunch & a dream. Five years on & still the same boy & still my best friend.’
Louis, 23, doesn’t look much like the same boy, though. Hollow-eyed and with skin that appears greying beneath the stage make-up, he sports no fewer than 33 tattoos including the gloomy slogan: ‘It is what it is’ across his chest.
He wasn’t able to sustain his romance with girlfriend Eleanor Calder, whom he dated for four years. Louis said he was determined to make it work. ‘If your heart’s in it, then you’re not gonna mess about,’ he explained. However, they split in March, with a friend commenting: ‘It was just impossible, he’s away for nine months a year.’
After a couple of nights out with Briana Jungwirth, Louis had moved on to date another girl when Briana discovered she was pregnant. He is now said to be supporting her and planning to be present at all her ante-natal scans as well as the birth next year.
‘It was a surprise at first, but he and Briana are very close friends and this has brought them even closer,’ a source told People magazine. They will not, though, be trying to make a go of it as a couple.
This is not the first time Louis has found himself caught up in scandal. Last year, he and Zayn Malik were filmed apparently smoking marijuana and discussing other drugs while in a car taking them to a concert in Chile. Louis said: ‘So here we are leaving Peru. Joint lit. Happy days.’
So far, he has bought himself a five-bedroom house in North London for £2.5 million. He has a £45,000 Porsche Boxster and a £90,000 Range Rover, plus he also bought his local pub football team, The Three Horseshoes.
PICTURED IN BED WITH A STRIPPER
BORN in Bradford, West Yorkshire, Zayn Malik’s biggest gig before X Factor was singing in front of the Mayor of Bradford at Asda as part of a choir. Only 17 when he auditioned on the talent show, he has struggled with homesickness.
His mother Tricia told a magazine: ‘When he leaves home I cry at the gate and he says: “Mum! I’m not going to war!” A driver comes for him and I have to stand there and wave back.’
The separations became harder to bear from 2011, when he started dating Perrie Edwards of the girl group Little Mix. He left the group in March to spend more time with ‘the missus’ and the couple are expected to marry soon.
In a statement, Zayn, said: ‘I am leaving because I want to be a normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight.’
What he didn’t mention was that he had been accused of cheating on Perrie with a fan on tour — and that wasn’t the first time he was accused of being unfaithful.
A stripper sold a picture of him lying in bed next to her and claimed they had a fling; he was also filmed apparently arranging to hook up with a fan after a concert, saying: ‘Listen, wait about half an hour and come to my room.’
Zayn had long been noted for his sulky demeanour — he even swore at other band members during a webchat before X Factor ended.
At times he was very thin, and there was speculation about his health when he missed out on travelling to America for some promotional interviews last year.
When he was captured on camera in May last year smoking what appeared to be a joint, bandmate Louis Tomlinson could be heard saying: ‘One very, very important factor of Zayn’s warm up, of course, is Mary J herself’ — Mary J being slang for marijuana.
Since leaving the band Zayn is said to have an interest in entering the fashion world. He has bought houses for his mother, for Perrie’s mother and now a £3 million home for himself and Perrie, just outside London. It has a 25-acre garden.
A PASSION FOR OLDER WOMEN
FROM the start, Harry Styles was the most adorable of all of the poppets. Aged only 16, and with a Saturday job at the local bakery, he had been in a band with his schoolfriends before auditioning.
It didn’t take him long, however, to build up a reputation as not just the cutest member of One Direction but its biggest lothario, too. As his old best friend Will Sweeny declared: ‘He has had an unbelievable way with girls all his life.’
There have been flings with TV presenter Caroline Flack (then 32 to his 17) and married DJ Lucy Horobin, quick romances with Rod Stewart’s daughter Kimberly and singer Taylor Swift, plus numerous liaisons with models.
Recently he was linked to Kendall Jenner, the model member of reality TV’s Kardashian clan, and to Nadine Leopold and Sara Sampaio, blonde and brunette Victoria’s Secret models respectively.
He was even caught canoodling back stage with a backing dancer while he was on The X Factor and, rather awkwardly, briefly dated his close friend the One Direction stylist Lou Teasdale.
It is, perhaps, exactly the kind of hormonally-driven chaos which you would expect of a teenage boy who suddenly achieves global fame.
Frequently spotted out on the town, in October he was photographed vomiting by the side of the road in California the morning after a night out with singer Lily Allen. He has a flat in East London worth £575,000 and was looking at beachside homes in Malibu, Los Angeles.
He loves a bit of bling, and owns an Audemars Piaguet watch worth £23,000. He also loves cars and owns a £100,000 Porsche, a vintage Ford Capri, an £80,000 Range Rover Sport and an Audi R8.
He has also spent a fair amount on tattoos — his are of infamously variable quality. He has 54 in total.
Harry, 21, is reportedly keen on starting a new career as an actor once One Direction are over.
TIRADE OF ABUSE AT THEIR FEMALE FANS
IRISH-BORN Niall Horan was a student at Colaiste Mhuire school in County Westmeath and ‘put off’ taking his leaving certificate to pursue the chance of stardom offered by X Factor. (One Direction were famously third on the show.)
His mum Maura said he left a childhood sweetheart behind, too. ‘He had a girlfriend at home, from his school days, before he auditioned for X Factor. But then he was doing that and she was doing exams, so life is very different for him now.’
Still, he is probably the band member who has changed least since finding stardom — his per-
sonal style remains clean-cut and he has mostly managed to steer clear of controversy.
The most damaging episode in his career came early on, when he arrived at Dublin airport and referred to the female fans waiting to greet him as a ‘shower of c***s’. He later apologised profusely, saying: ‘It was just banter with fans who I think of more as mates. But I understand that it’s not a word I should be using at all.’
More recently, in the summer of 2013 he was embroiled in a love triangle involving singers ed Sheeran and ellie Goulding. ed was dating ellie, but Niall swooped in, apparently had a fling with her, and spoiled their romance. The situation was said to be immortalised by Sheeran in the song Don’t — although this was denied.
Niall, 21, has also had a romance with Irish TV presenter Laura Whitmore, who is nine years his senior.
He dated Sydney student Melissa Anne Whitelaw from february to June this year — causing evident unhappiness to her boyfriend, Joshua Roberts. The only band member to have no tattoos, Niall bought a £2.2 million home in North London from JLS star Marvin Humes and drives a Range Rover.
SHAVED HIS HAIR OFF AFTER LOVE SPLIT
AfTeR trying out for The X factor in 2008 aged only 14 — and being told by Cowell to leave it for ‘a couple of years — Liam Payne returned in 2010. Raised in Bushbury, Wolver- hampton, by dad Geoff and mum Karen, he had 11 GCSes under his belt and was following a course in music technology at Wolverhampton College. He had already been gigging in pubs for years.
He spent two years dating dancer Danielle Peazer and when they split in 2013 shaved his hair off. The pressures of fame were blamed, with a friend saying: ‘He has hardly been able to see Danielle in recent months.’
Afterwards he was linked to singer Leona Lewis but he denied that they were dating. Liam has a reputation for reacting gracelessly to the pressures of fame, to say the least.
He attracted criticism after posting a picture of himself standing on the edge of a skyscraper ledge in January 2014. Chastened, he called it ‘a stupid and irresponsible thing to do. I am sorry, and do not endorse any fans trying to repeat this, as it is extremely dangerous.’
Then there were two embarrassing episodes where he was accused of obnoxious behaviour.
In february 2013, singer Boy George thanked Harry Styles for taking a photo with his niece, but publicly criticised Liam after he allegedly wouldn’t take a picture.
Liam, 21, responded to Boy George via social media: ‘Now now boy let’s not tell porkies firstly thanks for getting my name wrong three times secondly then asking me where is Liam? . . . akward (sic) then when you finally got it right saying you wanted Niall instead.’
There was more sourness when he visited the empire State building in December 2012, and complained its security staff were ‘ arrogant, unprofessional and extremely disrespectful’ in a Tweet that has since been deleted.