Harry Styles Opens Up About Therapy And Feeling 'Free' After Going Solo

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In his Better Homes & Gardens June cover story, Harry Styles opened up about his therapy journey, leaving One Direction, and more.

Styles began therapy about five years ago, but he was skeptical at first. "I thought it meant that you were broken," he said. "I wanted to be the one who could say I didn't need it." He later explained that therapy has allowed him to "open up rooms in himself" that he didn't know existed and to feel things more honestly instead of "emotionally coast." "I think that accepting living, being happy, hurting in the extremes, that is the most alive you can be," he added. "Losing it crying, losing it laughing—there's no way, I don't think, to feel more alive than that."

Later in the interview, the "As It Was" singer shared his experience of feeling like he always had to be likable and well-behaved while in One Direction. "In lockdown, I started processing a lot of stuff that happened when I was in the band," he said, stating that he was encouraged to give much of himself away in order "to get people to engage with you, to like you."

Styles explained that there were cleanliness clauses in the contracts he signed while in the band that had him "terrified" at the time because they required him to always be on his best behavior. He recalled signing a new contract after going solo that wasn't affected by "personal transgressions" and bursting out into tears. "I felt free," he said. Read the full interview here.


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