Louis Tomlinson ‘helpless’ after years of quelling romance rumors with Harry Styles

While Louis Tomlinson has spent years shutting down Harry Styles romance rumors, he acknowledged, “There is nothing I can do to stop those who believe in this conspiracy.”

Nothing is going to drag Louis Tomlinson down, including those Harry Styles rumors.

Because while he’s repeatedly shut down speculation that they were ever more than friends, fans have continued to ship the One Direction members together. But instead of focusing on the “Larry” theories, Louis is heading in a different direction and trying to pay them less attention.

“What I realized a few years ago is that there is nothing I can say,” he told Brazilian outlet g1 in a translated interview published April 8. “There is nothing I can do to stop those who believe in this conspiracy. They are so connected to what they believe that they will not see the truth for what it really is.”

And even though Louis tries to ignore the romance rumors, he admits they still bother him.

“I’m sure many people look and find all these little conspiracies that happen in life interesting,” he continued. “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t irritate me a little, but it’s the nature of the job.”

Especially when his 8-year-old son Freddie—whom he shares with ex Briana Jungwirth—is brought into the mix.

“There are times when it gets very personal,” the singer added. “I have my son, Freddie. He is the most important person in my life. And occasionally, [these theories] end up addressing things that are a little unfair.”

Still, Louis knows the rumors won’t stop spreading.

“This is what we have now,” he told the publication. “There’s nothing I can do about it. Nothing I can say to stop people from inventing what they want to invent. So, so be it.”

Karwai Tang/WireImage

In fact, there was even a 2019 episode of Euphoria that featured a steamy scene about the fan theories—leading Louis to speak out and note he was neither contacted about the episode nor approved it.

“I’m not going to lie, I was pissed off,” he later told The Guardian. “It annoyed me that a big company would get behind it.”

For those who need a quick story of their life in the band, Louis and Harry formed One Direction with Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Liam Payne while appearing on The X Factor in 2010, but the group broke up in 2015.

Love a trip down memory lane? Well, get ready to run towards these throwback photos of the stars.

NBC / Contributor / GETTY IMAGES

They’ve Got the X Factor

Despite winning over audiences around the world, the band finished in third place behind Rebecca Ferguson and Matt Cardle in 2010.

FOX / Contributor / GETTY IMAGES

Live From New York

The U.K. band made their Saturday Night Live debut in 2012 with an electric performance of their single “One Thing.”

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Winning Big at the 2013 VMAs

The band took home the coveted moonman trophy for Best Song of the Summer for their song “Best Song Ever.”

Syco/Kobal/Shutterstock

Hitting the Big Screen

The band gave fans a behind-the-scenes look at live on the road of their This Is Us Tour with their concert documentary movie This Is Us. 

Yui Mok – WPA Pool /Getty Images

Music Royalty

While attending the Royal Variety Performance in November 2014, the band met Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Where They Are

The band’s Where We Are Tour was the highest-grossing tour of 2014, beating out Justin Timberlake, The Rolling Stones, Katy Perry as well as Beyoncé and Jay-Z‘s tours that year.

Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

One Direction Minus One

In March 2015, Malik announced that he was leaving the band to launch his solo career.

Mike Windle/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

End of an Era

After releasing 2015’s Made in the A.M. as a foursome, Styles, Payne, Horan and Tomlinson announced that One Direction would take an indefinite hiatus.

Instagram/Getty Images

Fatherhood

Tomlinson became a father to his son Freddie Reign in 2016. One year later, Payne welcomed his son Bear Grey with ex Cheryl Cole.

Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Reunion?

In 2020, fans suspected that a reunion of sorts was underway when Styles, Payne, Tomlinson and Horan all started following Malik on X—then known as Twitter—again.

Further fueling reunion rumors, Payne told The Sun at the time, “We’ve got a 10-year anniversary coming up so we’ve all been speaking together a lot over the last few weeks which has been really nice.”

Instagram/Zayn Malik

Another 1D Baby

Malik and his then-girlfriend Gigi Hadid welcomed daughter Khai in September 2020.

Justin Palmer/GC Images