AS a young boy Harry Styles never cried much. But the tears gushed from the One Direction heart-throb on the day his dad announced he was walking out on his family.
Harry, now 18, was just seven when his dad sat him down and told him he was leaving home. He has since overcome the childhood trauma to join the world’s hottest boyband.
But dad Des says the sight of his son in tears haunts him still – and reveals the moment he broke the news to Harry was the worst day of his life.
Des, 54, opens up on his relationship with chart-topping son Harry and gives a fascinating insight into the life of the former X Factor idol.
He tells how he’s tried to give him advice on sleeping with girls and reveals he thought the 15-year age gap between Harry and one-time girlfriend Caroline Flack was “extreme”.
But, movingly, he tells of his agony when he could no longer see Harry and his sister Gemma, now 21, after he split from their mum Anne.
Des said: “He was only about seven when I sat them down and told them I was leaving. Everybody was in tears.
“We were sitting in the lounge. Gemma and Harry were sitting on the floor in front of us, Anne and I on the sofa, and both of them were crying.
“Generally, you wouldn’t see him cry as much as maybe some kids do – he wasn’t generally emotional or a cry baby – but he cried then.”
“The way we sat them down and told them we weren’t going to be together any more, it was probably the worst day of my life.”
Des says he and Anne tried to reassure their distraught son by telling him he wouldn’t be leaving immediately.
The family struggled on for another two years before Des eventually walked out.
He said: “I didn’t just leave, it was a decision we should split. Things weren’t good for a while and it was the best way forward.
“At the time, everybody was in tears but children are very resilient.”
When he finally walked out for good, he said it was heartbreaking,
“Of course, I missed him and Gemma, as you would unless you were some sort of monster,” he said.
“It was tough. I used to feed him every night at half 10, change his nappy, put him to bed when he was a baby and then I was no longer living with them.”
Sales and marketing director Des confessed he’s never spoken to Harry about how the break-up affected him.
“I’ve always tried to approach it from the other way, to say, ‘Is everything all right Harry, is your mum all right, are you ok?’
“I used to see Harry and his sister Gemma every couple of weeks, I’ve always supported them financially and when I can emotionally.
“I’m not an estranged dad. It was a tough time to leave them but these things happen.”
Harry’s mum remarried and moved with her new husband into a pub, which Des says he didn’t approve of – but he’s full of support for her new man Robin.
And he says he couldn’t be prouder of Harry, who put the marriage split behind him to forge his pop career.
Des said: “He’s polite and well mannered, he’s trained up properly, but it wasn’t me, of course not, it would be Anne.
“But in his younger years, it was me. I say show me the lad at seven and I’ll show you the man, so I was there then.
“I’m just so proud of Harry. Three years ago, he was working in the bakery in the local village and now he’s something like 86th on twitter in the world.”
Harry hit the big time after he auditioned for The X Factor in 2010.
He failed to make it through to the boys’ category but guest judge Nicole Scherzinger suggested he join up with fellow hopefuls Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan to form a boy band.
One Direction came third and the following year released their debut album Up All Night – the fastest selling debut in UK chart history and the first British act to have their debut album go straight to No1 in the US.
Des says he’s been overwhelmed by the band’s success but has been able to sample some of the hysteria in America.
He added: “I went to New York in April to watch them on the Morning Show on NBC, with 15,000 fans on Rockefeller Plaza all screaming their heads off, and I spent a few days with the lads in their van going round experiencing what they were experiencing and it was awesome.
“The fact that they all get on so well together and are bouncing off each other all the time, you can imagine, it must be like cracking it as a footballer.”
Des reveals he’s tried to warn Harry about the dangers of getting into trouble with girls who now throw themselves at him.
He said: “I never needed to sit him down and tell him about the birds and the bees. I tried to train him up as we went along.
“We had those conversations and it was almost as though he’d say, ‘Yeah, dad, I’m on board with that’, rather than going all sicky and saying, ‘Oh dad don’t talk about things like that’, you know the way some kids do.
“I said to Harry, just make sure you don’t get anyone pregnant because if that were to happen, it would really screw things up big time.
“If he then makes a mistake, so be it. There’s nothing I can do to stop him doing anything. He’s away in a different country and completely different world.
“From a One Direction aspect, it wouldn’t be great. It would drive a truck through that.
“I don’t think it would bother him too much if he did get a girl pregnant. He would be a responsible parent and get on with it, which seems a bit bizarre, doesn’t it? But I honestly think that’s the way he’d be.”
Harry caused controversy last October when, aged 17, he started dating TV presenter Caroline Flack, who, at 32, was 15 years older than him.
They split three months later and Des admits that even though he secretly admired his son’s pulling power, he felt the age gap was too big.
Des said: “With Caroline Flack, you can imagine, dads and sons, it’s like, ‘Fair play, son.’ But it was a bit ridiculous, 32 or whatever she was and 17. It’s a bit extreme really.”
But Des says he isn’t surprised Harry is getting a lot of attention from the opposite sex, because he’s always been a heart-throb.
He added: “We went on holiday once to Cyprus when he was nine and as we left there was a whole melee of teenage girls, 16, 17-year-olds gathered by the side of the bus saying, ‘bye Harry, we love you’. How did he do that?
“He’s just got this fantastic personable demeanour to him. Clearly he’s a bit special.
“It’s not just his looks but he’s very charming, it’s like a gift really. I always knew he’d succeed at whatever he did because he’d always charm people, from performing in the car or on holiday he’d always be able to hold a crowd or hold a room even when he was a kid.
“His sister has always been academically brilliant and when he was about 14 he would say, ‘I’ll never live up to Gemma’, but the tables are turned now through what’s happened to Harry.”
Despite Harry’s success, Des doesn’t think he’ll turn into a ladykiller.
“He’s not one to run three girls at once. He’s a one girl person when he’s with somebody. There was a short period of time when he had several different girlfriends one after the other and I said, ‘Look don’t get a reputation because there’ll come a point where the girls will catch on to that’.
“He took it on board but whether he tries to live by that mantra I’ve no idea.
“As far as I know, Harry doesn’t have a girlfriend at the moment. They’re very rarely in the same place for him to be able to do that.
“He should ride the wave. Anybody would be mad to turn down what they’re doing but it doesn’t look very good from a girlfriend or prospective partner’s point of view, does it?
“I’ve been married three times so I wouldn’t say anyone should take a leaf out of my book.”
Although Des and Harry have maintained a bond, Des says now his son is so famous, he has to keep track of him on Twitter.
“The downside for me is I hardly see him. But on Father’s day Harry sent me texts saying ‘Love you more than all the world, kiss kiss kiss,’ from LA and Gemma bought me a nice bottle of wine from her and Harry.”
And he added: “I’m just very proud to be his dad but I don’t want to exploit that either, I just want to be here if he needs me.”
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