Look Back at Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde’s Romance, From Film Sets to Possible Tattoo Tributes

During an August 2022 interview with Rolling Stone, Styles made some rare comments about his romantic life. He didn’t name Wilde but did discuss the scrutiny that “the people closest to him,” in Rolling Stone’s words, can be subjected to. “Can you imagine going on a second date with someone and being like, ‘OK, there’s this corner of the thing, and they’re going to say this, and it’s going to be really crazy, and they’re going to be really mean, and it’s not real. . . . But anyway, what do you want to eat?'” he said. “. . . It’s obviously a difficult feeling to feel like being close to me means you’re at the ransom of a corner of Twitter . . . I just wanted to sing. I didn’t want to get into it if I was going to hurt people like that.”

Wilde was also interviewed for the Rolling Stone feature, and in it, she directly addressed the impact of Styles’s fans’ frequently cruel words about her. “What I don’t understand about the cruelty you’re referencing is that that kind of toxic negativity is the antithesis of Harry, and everything he puts out there,” she said. “I don’t personally believe the hateful energy defines his fan base at all. The majority of them are true champions of kindness.”