THE list of boy band casualties is a long one – and the members of One Direction have been through more than most. Living in the crucible of intense fame, the British band’s young stars contend with a schedule which includes making films, releasing everything from perfumes to duvet covers, and being scrutinised on social media day and night.
And now it seems – after selling more than 50 million records and earning £27 million (R522m) each – that the reckoning is coming. For all five original members appear to be engaged in a very modern decline and fall.
Since the band was put together on The X Factor in 2010, there have been scandals involving drugs, tattoos, women and online spats. Now we learn one of the group, Louis Tomlinson, has inadvertently impregnated a 23-year-old stylist called Briana Jungwirth.
The pair, who enjoyed a few dates after Louis split from long-term girlfriend Eleanor Calder, were no longer an item when she discovered she was expecting. The news has been greeted with horror by the band’s fans and seems likely to hasten the end of their shelf life as squeaky-clean idols for tweens and teens.
Bookmakers William Hill have halved the odds that One Direction announce they are splitting before the end of 2015 to just 3/1.
It is widely rumoured that after they finish their current tour and release and promote their fifth album they will take “a break” rather than embark on another tour. This plan has been interpreted as the beginning of the end, although record label Sony deny that this will be the band’s final year.
It is undeniable, though, that things are falling apart. Earlier this year Zayn Malik quit amid accusations of drug use. Harry Styles is said to be planning a similar exit – to try his hand in films.
Yes, five years after the boys set off to audition for The X Factor, fame has wrought many changes. So how far have they fallen?
33 tattoos and a baby on the way
When an 18-year-old Tomlinson auditioned for X Factor, he was at school in Doncaster. Like the rest of the band, he’d hoped to make it as a solo performer, but was put into a group with the other four by Simon Cowell.
This week his mother Johanna posted a message online about how, on July 10, 2010: “My boy left his home with a packed lunch & a dream. Five years on & still the same boy & still my best friend.”
Louis, 23, doesn’t look like the same boy, though. Hollow-eyed and with skin that appears greying beneath the stage make-up, he has 33 tattoos including the gloomy slogan: “It is what it is” across his chest.
He wasn’t able to sustain his romance with girlfriend Eleanor Calder, whom he dated for four years, with a friend saying: “It was just impossible, he’s away for nine months a year.”
After a few nights out with Jungwirth, Louis had moved on to date another girl when Briana discovered she was pregnant. He is said to be supporting her and plans to be present at the birth next year.
This is not the first time Louis has found himself caught up in scandal. Last year, he and Malik were filmed apparently smoking marijuana and discussing other drugs while in a car taking them to a concert in Chile. Louis said: “So here we are leaving Peru. Joint lit. Happy days.”
So far, he has bought himself a five-bedroom house in North London for £2.5m. He has a £45 000 Porsche Boxster and a £90 000 Range Rover, plus he bought his local pub football team, The Three Horseshoes.
Pictured in bed with a stripper
Born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, Malik’s biggest gig before X Factor was singing in front of the mayor of Bradford at Asda as part of a choir. Only 17 when he auditioned on the show, he’s struggled with homesickness.
The separations became harder from 2011, when he started dating Perrie Edwards of the girl group Little Mix. He left the group in March to spend more time with “the missus” and the couple are expected to marry soon.
In a statement, Zayn, said: “I am leaving because I want to be a normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight.”
What he didn’t mention was that he’d been accused of cheating on Perrie with a fan on tour — and that wasn’t the first time. A stripper sold a picture of him lying in bed next to her and claimed they had a fling; he was also filmed apparently arranging to hook up with a fan after a concert, saying: “Listen, wait about half an hour and come to my room.”
Zayn had long been noted for his sulky demeanour — he even swore at other band members during a webchat before X Factor ended. At times he was very thin, and there was speculation about his health when he missed out on travelling to America last year.
Since leaving the band he is said to have an interest in entering the fashion world. He has bought houses for his mother, for Perrie’s mother and now a £3m home for himself and Perrie, just outside London.
A passion for older women
From the start, Styles was the most adorable of all of the poppets. Aged only 16, and with a Saturday job at a bakery, he’d been in a band with his schoolfriends before auditioning.
It didn’t take him long, however, to build up a reputation as not just the cutest member of One Direction, but its biggest lothario, too.
There have been flings with TV presenter Caroline Flack (then 32 to his 17) and married DJ Lucy Horobin, quick romances with Rod Stewart’s daughter Kimberly and singer Taylor Swift, plus many liaisons with models.
Recently he was linked to Kendall Jenner and to Nadine Leopold and Sara Sampaio, blonde and brunette Victoria’s Secret models respectively.
He was even caught canoodling back stage with a backing dancer while he was on The X Factor and, rather awkwardly, briefly dated his close friend, the One Direction stylist Lou Teasdale.
It is, perhaps, exactly the kind of hormonally-driven chaos which you would expect of a teenage boy who suddenly achieves global fame.
Frequently spotted out on the town, in October he was photographed vomiting by the side of the road in California the morning after a night out with singer Lily Allen. He has a flat in East London worth £575 000 and was looking at beachside homes in Malibu, Los Angeles.
He loves a bit of bling, and owns an Audemars Piaguet watch worth £23 000. He also loves cars and owns a £100 000 Porsche, a vintage Ford Capri, an £80 000 Range Rover Sport and an Audi R8.
He has also spent a fair amount on tattoos – his are of infamously variable quality. He has 54 in total.
Harry, 21, is reportedly keen on starting a new career as an actor once One Direction are over.
Tirade of abuse at their female fans
IrishMAN Niall Horan was a student at Colaiste Mhuire school in County Westmeath and “put off” taking his leaving certificate to pursue the chance of stardom offered by X Factor. (One Direction were third on the show.)
His mum Maura said he left a childhood sweetheart behind, too. “He had a girlfriend at home, from his school days, before he auditioned for X Factor. But then he was doing that and she was doing exams, so life is very different for him now.”
Still, he is probably the band member who has changed least since finding stardom – his personal style remains clean-cut and he has mostly managed to steer clear of controversy.
The most damaging episode in his career came early on, when he arrived at Dublin airport and referred to the female fans waiting to greet him as a “shower of c***s”. He later apologised profusely, saying: “It was just banter with fans who I think of more as mates. But I understand that it’s not a word I should be using at all.”
More recently, in the summer of 2013, he was embroiled in a love triangle involving singers Ed Sheeran and Ellie Goulding. Ed was dating Ellie, but Niall swooped in, apparently had a fling with her, and spoilt their romance. The situation was said to be immortalised by Sheeran in the song Don’t – although this was denied.
Niall, 21, has also had a romance with Irish TV presenter Laura Whitmore, who is nine years his senior.
He dated Sydney student Melissa Anne Whitelaw from February to June – causing evident unhappiness to her boyfriend, Joshua Roberts. The only band member to have no tattoos, Niall bought a £2.2m home in North London from JLS star Marvin Humes and drives a Range Rover.
Shaved his hair off after love split
After trying out for The X Factor in 2008 aged only 14 – and being told by Cowell to leave it for “a couple of years” – Liam Payne returned in 2010. Raised in Bushbury, Wolverhampton, by dad Geoff and mum Karen, he had 11 GCSEs under his belt and was following a course in music technology at Wolverhampton College. He had already been gigging in pubs for years.
He spent two years dating dancer Danielle Peazer and when they split in 2013 he shaved his hair off. The pressures of fame were blamed, with a friend saying: “He has hardly been able to see Danielle in recent months.”
Afterwards he was linked to singer Leona Lewis, but he denied that they were dating. Liam has a reputation for reacting gracelessly to the pressures of fame, to say the least.
He attracted criticism after posting a picture of himself standing on the edge of a skyscraper ledge in January last year. Chastened, he called it “a stupid and irresponsible thing to do. I am sorry, and do not endorse any fans trying to repeat this, as it is extremely dangerous.”
Then there were two embarrassing episodes when he was accused of obnoxious behaviour.
In February 2013, singer Boy George thanked Styles for taking a photo with his niece, but publicly criticised Liam after he allegedly wouldn’t take a picture.
Liam, 21, responded via social media: “Now, now, Boy, let’s not tell porkies. Firstly, thanks for getting my name wrong three times, secondly, then asking me: ‘where is Liam?’… akward. Then when you finally got it right, saying you wanted Niall instead.’
There was more sourness when he visited the Empire State building in December 2012, and complained that its security staff were “arrogant, unprofessional and extremely disrespectful” in a Tweet that has since been deleted. – Daily Mail