Harry Styles talks queerness in new interview.
Pop heartthrob and global superstar Harry Styles has been addressing a few things.
“How Harry Styles Became the World’s Most Wanted Man” is the headline of Rolling Stones’ new cover story, within which Styles chips in on the relentless public speculation about his sexuality since the start of his career.
Harry has been accused of queerbaiting, increasingly in recent years, and there are a number of possible driving forces behind the claims.
Whether it’s his (excellent) genderless approach to fashion, taking gay roles in movies, waving Pride Flags at gigs, his song lyrics, or just him generally enjoying rocking a “queer aesthetic” – everyone seems to have an opinion on his sexuality, which usually goes something along the lines of: ‘it doesn’t matter either way, but be honest’.
This is, perhaps, only further fuelled by being the one topic Harry consistently refuses to offer any clarity on – at all.
In April, for a feature with Better Homes & Gardens, he said:
“For a long time, it felt like the only thing that was mine was my sex life. I felt so ashamed about it, ashamed at the idea of people even knowing that I was having sex, let alone who with,” he told the magazine.
In this new Rolling Stone interview, Styles elaborates further on queerbaiting accusations:
“Sometimes people say, ‘You’ve only publicly been with women,’ and I don’t think I’ve publicly been with anyone. If someone takes a picture of you with someone, it doesn’t mean you’re choosing to have a public relationship or something,” he said.
Speaking value the value of Privacy, Styles added: “I’ve never talked about my life away from work publicly and found that it’s benefited me positively.”
Harry’s new film, My Policeman, is about to get its highly-anticipated release, and will see Styles playing a police officer hiding his sexuality during the time homosexuality was still illegal.
Set in Brighton, UK, in the 1950s, the movie introduces you to policeman Tom (Styles), teacher Marion (Emma Corrin) and museum curator Patrick (David Dawson) as they become embroiled in an emotional tangle that takes decades to unpick.
Taken from the book of the same name by Bethan Roberts, the film is directed by Michael Grandage.
The movie also stars Linus Roache and Rupert Everett, as the older versions of Harry Styles and David Dawson’s characters respectively.
Ahead of My Policeman’s release (trailer below) Styles told Rolling Stone, “I think everyone, including myself, has your own journey with figuring out sexuality and getting more comfortable with it.”
“It’s not like ‘This is a gay story about these guys being gay.’ It’s about love and about wasted time to me,” he added.
He also shared his thoughts on gay sex in movies, saying: “So much of gay sex in film is two guys going at it, and it kind of removes the tenderness from it … [but it can be] tender and loving and sensitive”.
Harry also insisted that, despite a spate of high-profile movie roles, you won’t see him making a full-time transition to the acting world just yet:
“I don’t imagine I’d do a movie for a while,” he said.
“I think there’ll be a time again when I’ll crave it”,
“But when you’re making music, something’s happening. It feels really creative and it feeds stuff. A large part of acting is the doing-nothing, waiting thing. Which if that’s the worst part, then it’s a pretty good job. But I don’t find that section of it to be that fulfilling. I like doing it in the moment, but I don’t think I’ll do it a lot.”
My Policeman arrives in selected cinemas October 21 before hitting Amazon Prime on November 4.