Louis Tomlinson just addressed a decade-old rumor. Allow us to take you back about ten years to the days of 2015. It was a simpler time—the girls spent their days on Tumblr, Taylor Swift’s 1989 filled the charts, owl necklaces and skater skirts filled every wardrobe. And the hot topic on every pop fan’s mind was “Larry,” the ship that celebrated the (fan-fic) romance between One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles.
Now, Larry shippers were hardcore. Despite a real lack of any evidence, they were convinced that Harry and Louis were a thing. They scrutinized every interaction in slow motion, analyzed every interview, and poured through lyrics in a desperate hunt for clues. Oh, and they filled the internet with fan fiction, fan videos, and fan art. It was, in a word, intense.
In the past, Tomlinson has denied the rumors time and time again—but that doesn’t stop people from bringing it up. In a recent interview with Brazilian magazine G1, an interviewer once again asked Tomlinson about the Larry saga.
“What’s tough is I’ve realized—I’ve realized this some years ago—there’s nothing I can say, there’s nothing I can do to dispel the believers of that conspiracy,” he said. “They are so intertwined with what they believe to be the truth now, that they won’t actually see the truth for what it is.”
Tomlinson went on to admit that the continuing fascination with the conspiracy theory did become annoying. “It does irritate me a little bit, you know, but it is just kind of the nature of the job, I suppose.”
His main concern is the safety and well-being of his son—when he becomes implicated in the theories, Louis explained, it becomes hard to deal with. “At times it gets far too personal within that whole space,” he said. “I’ve got my son, Freddie, he’s the most important person in my life. Occasionally, you know, it kind of broaches some stuff that’s, kind of, really unfair.”
However, Louis is now taking a zen approach to the rumors. “It kind of just is this thing that kind of exists now, there’s nothing I can do about it, there’s nothing I can say about it to stop people making up what they want to make up, so, so be it,” he said.
Tomlinsons’ recent comments about the Larry shippers is a sobering reminder about the real-world impact of the celebrity rumor mill and the current public appetite for celebrity conspiracy theories. The Kate Middleton saga saw her hounded by the press while she sought privacy in the wake of a cancer diagnosis. Conspiracy theorists are over-analyzing every movement of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, proclaiming anything and everything (engagements! babies! marriages!). And now, we have Louis’ revelation that 10-year-old rumors still continue to haunt him and his family—and, to make matters worse, these rumors have spiralled to the point where the pop star has to simply accept that they will always be there.
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