The singer — who says she and Styles were only teenagers at the time — shares how Styles ultimately apologized, before praising him for being “always very, very lovely.”
Little Mix singer Jade Thirlwall is opening up about the time she was “ghosted” by a male heartthrob as a teenager.
On Monday’s episode of The Louis Theroux Podcast, the now-32-year-old shared that she went on a date with Harry Styles back when he was competing on The X Factor with One Direction in 2010.
According to Thirlwall, she and Styles, 30, went out on a date together around the time he was put into a boy band with Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, and the late Liam Payne, before she said he stopped responding to her messages.
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“We went on one date when we were like 16 or something,” she recalled. “He had just been put in a band and it was really funny because we kept in touch.”
“And then the minute they went on live shows he didn’t message me back,” she added. “I thought, ‘That’s it now. He’s gone, he’s made it.'”
Thirlwall went on to appear on The X Factor in the following season, during which her girl group, Little Mix, was formed. Thirlwall and her bandmates — Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, and Jesy Nelson — were ultimately crowned the winners of Season 8.
During her time on the UK version of the competition series, Thirlwall said she had an encounter with Styles when One Direction performed on the show, revealing that the singer apologized for not texting her back after their date.
“I saw him in a room after and he was like, ‘I’m really sorry that I ignored you,'” she recalled with a laugh, to which Theroux said, “He ghosted you.”
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“Yes. Again, I was so young it didn’t really matter,” Thirlwall clarified, before sharing that she has no hard feelings towards Styles. “He was always very, very lovely.”
After Theroux jokingly pointed out that Styles “could be listening” to the podcast, Thirlwall continued to praise the Grammy winner.
“He’s gotten himself where he is because he’s very talented,” Thirlwall said. “He’s very lovely, very charming.”
The “It Girl” singer embarked on her solo career after Little Mix went on a hiatus in 2022 — two years after Jesy Nelson left the group in 2020.
One Direction, meanwhile, split in 2016, with all members going solo following Zayn Malik’s departure in 2015. Liam Payne tragically passed away in November 2024.
